Minister of Health explains how cases will be transferred from MSEC to new expert commissions
31 December 2024 10:28
The day before, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law that provides for the liquidation of medical and social expert commissions (MSECs). This is reported on the website of the Verkhovna Rada, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Thus, from January 1, 2025, a new system for assessing a person’s daily functioning will be launched, and instead of the liquidated medical and social expert commissions, decisions on disability determination, appointment of auxiliary rehabilitation devices, and other aspects will be made by expert teams for assessing daily functioning.
As explained by the Ministry of Health, it is on the basis of an extract from the expert team’s decision that people with disabilities will be able to receive (or continue to receive) benefits, pensions, allowances, compensation, and allowances. An extract from the expert team’s decision can also be used for the purposes specified in the Laws of Ukraine “On Military Duty and Military Service” and “On Mobilization Preparation and Mobilization.”
The referral and assessment will be carried out in the electronic system for assessing the daily functioning of a person. This system is already in operation.
What about the unfinished cases of the MSEC?
At a briefing the day before, Health Minister Viktor Liashko explained how cases will be transferred from the MSEC to new expert commissions in hospitals that will assess the functioning of a person.
“Now we are transferring those cases that the MSEC does not have time to complete. They are being transferred to designated healthcare institutions, and there are more than 290 of them. They have formed 1450 expert teams and more than 4,000 doctors are ready to work there,” the minister said.
He explained that each MSEC is assigned to a medical institution, cases are digitized and entered into an electronic system, which will further carry out all the processes for further assessment of human functioning.
“We have a register of cases, we know which cases have been transferred to which institutions, an electronic queue is being formed, and each medical institution will notify us where the case is and when the hearing is scheduled. And the hotline will be supported from January 1,” said Lyashko.
In general, according to the Ministry of Health, there are currently 1.3 million cases in the archives of the MSEC, more than 40 thousand of which have already been transferred from the MSEC to medical institutions where expert teams will be operating to assess human functioning. For those cases that have already been digitized, the date and time of the meeting have been set.
How the assessment of daily functioning will be carried out
The Ministry of Health has detailed the “patient route”. Here’s how it will work:
– A person visits his or her attending physician at any institution (state, municipal or private).
– The doctor creates a referral for evaluation in the electronic system for assessing the person’s daily functioning and attaches all the necessary documents electronically. The patient needs to prepare a passport of a citizen of Ukraine and other personal documents, medical documentation confirming the diagnosis, documents certifying the causes of disability (if any). The documents can be submitted in paper form for scanning at the healthcare facility when a referral for assessment is made.
– At this stage, together with the doctor, the person chooses the institution where it is more convenient to apply and where there is an expert team with the required profile, as well as the form of consideration.
– The team administrator will receive the referral generated by the doctor through the electronic system, check it and the documents attached to it for completeness and compliance with the approved requirements. After checking, the administrator will put the case in the queue for the next available time.
– Then the person will receive an email notification about the place and time of the assessment.
– If the person does not have an email address, they will be able to receive the decision of the expert team by registered mail, and the information will also be available to the attending physician.
– The person and the doctor will be informed only of the date and time of the review; the composition of the expert team remains unknown to all participants.
– On the day of the assessment, the members of the expert team have access to the person’s data. At the appointed time, the expert team assesses the person’s daily functioning, if necessary, refers the person for additional medical examination (this option is allowed only once in order not to delay the decision); makes a decision on whether or not to establish a disability.
– The expert team forms a decision, each doctor signs it, and this decision replaces the MSEC certificate. It will contain not only the disability status, but also recommendations and prescriptions, in particular, regarding the Individual Rehabilitation Program.
– Consideration of the case by the expert team must be completed no later than 30 calendar days from the date of acceptance of the electronic referral for consideration by the medical institution.
– If a person does not agree with the decision of the expert team, he or she has the right to appeal it. This can be done by contacting the Center for the Assessment of the Functional Status of a Person, for this purpose, a complaint must be sent to its address.
