Kontakt 2009, 11(2):394-400 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2009.061

Optimum organizational structure of the service of medical assessors - vision or fiction?Health and Social Sciences

Libuše Čeledová

Ministerstvo práce a sociálních věcí ČR, odbor posudkové služby

The article deals with the organization of the service of medical assessors and its activity in context of time, development of the branch of second-opinion medicine and irreplaceable role of the medical assessor in the system of social insurance. By way of example, the role of a medical assess A levels or in decisions concerning the contribution to the care according to the law on social services is presented. The payment of the contribution to the care, which is effective since January 1, 2007, is the most dramatically growing mandatory expense within the social security system. Even after 3 years from its effectiveness, the number of applicants for this payment from the social system does not decrease. By way of example of the contribution to the care, consequences are presented of impacts of activities of medical assessors on the state budget. The service of medical assessors faces unsatisfactory age structure of physicians, since more than half of them is aged 60 years and above, and is affected by the rapid development, which means conceptual, organizational and technical enhancement of requirements for granting services. In the article, results are presented of questionnaire examinations, which were implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs with the aim to support the stabilization of services of medical assessors. Conclusions of examinations carried out indicated that an increase in the quality of the activity of medical assessors could be in opinion of these physicians particularly achieved by improving the financial appreciation, increasing the number of medical assessors and reducing the administrative work. The author conclusively presents a hypothesis of the final organizational arrangement of the service of medical assessors. The desirable solution of the ongoing process of the transformation of the service of medical assessors is establishing an authority of medical assessors for the consideration of the health condition of persons and ability to work for purposes of particular systems of the social protection and employment. The author proposes two possibilities of the future form of the service of medical assessors: an independent administrative authority or external supplier of services.

Keywords: service of medical assessors; law on social services; contribution to care

Received: August 7, 2009; Accepted: October 27, 2009; Published: December 18, 2009  Show citation