Incorrect payments in social insurance - Control activities of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency
In 2014 the social insurance system accounted for six per cent of GDP. The long-term sustainability of a system of that magnitude requires that the public perceives its purpose to be important ... , that it is well administered and that it is as free of abuse as possible. It must also be financially stable over time, since major fluctuations impact other areas of the central government budget. When ... these things function as they should, the system is perceived to be legitimate and enjoys public confidence.<br/> According to available estimations, almost SEK 20 billion had been paid out incorrectly from ... Balance of priorities needed to reduce incorrect payments ... Role of social insurance in public finance is so substantial that reduction of incorrect payments' volume is matter of huge savings. The Swedish NAO noted positive initiatives by the Social Insurance ... Agency in this regard. However they found also, that serious problems can stem from giving higher priority to the speed of payment and customers satisfaction. They both are undoubtedly important features ... of each system, still, the prevention of incorrect payments needs strategic support to be really effective.
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Managing the risk of legacy ICT to public service delivery
The cross-government report describes the case studies from four public services (state pension, Value Added Tax collection, prescription payment and consumer credit licensing services) selected ... to illustrate the range of approaches that small and large government bodies are taking to address the issues arising from legacy ICT (defined as "systems and applications that have been operationally embedded ... within a business function but superseded by newer and more effective technologies or changed business needs"). ... Possible approaches to the problem of 'legacy ICT' ... UK’s government experience in managing the risks connected to legacy ICT provides valuable insight for others facing the same problem and are considering transforming their services.
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Effectiveness of the execution of the eHealth project
The Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia has audited how effectively the Ministry of Health had managed the project eHealth - the national plan for developing information system support ... to the national public health system in the period between 1st of January 2004 and 26th of September 2013. The audit has focused on the effectiveness of the Ministry in achieving the project’s goals, time ... management, management of the human resources and financial oversight. The goal of the Ministry was to implement a modern information system, which would support secure eHealth operations and effective ... ... Clear concept, good planning and financial control are indispensable conditions for a successful IT project ... data. The Court has pointed at a long list of project management fundamentals to be corrected. ... The Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia analysed a Government eHealth project. Its goal was to implement a modern information system, which would support the health services and health related
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Activities of the state in implementing the e-health system - Do the state, doctors and patients benefit from ehealth?
Estonia’s population is aging and the share of elderly people is increasing, as fewer children are being born and people are living longer. This creates a constantly growing need for health ... and social services and patients are also becoming more and more demanding about the volume and quality of the services provided. The more extensive and systematic implementation of e-health solutions helps ... make the health system more efficient, improves people’s health via more effective prevention, raises the awareness of patients and also contributes to the more reasonable use of health resources ... ... Why state, doctors and patients do not benefit from e-Health as much as they could? ... The report reviews whether the objectives set to the e-Health – ambitious multiyear program of Estonian Government - have been achieved. They are: higher quality of the health service and more ... efficient organisation of health care. As SAI Estonia found out, wide range problems started from two basic points: lack of strategic manager and unrealisitc schedule.
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Material–technical supply of the State Police
The main aim of the audit was to obtain assurance about whether the State budget funds allocated for material–technical supply of functions of the State Police were legitimate and efficient ... . The audit included inspections performed at the State Police, the Ministry of the Interior and the Information Centre and focused on: the Biometric data processing system and the Criminal Procedure ... information system. ... ... Essential role of pre-project evaluation ... SAI of Latvia reveals chain of events that lead to unsuccessful implemenation of two important IS of the State police. What started with an absence of the strategy ended up with budget, time ... overruns and an IS not ready for effiecient use.
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State funds spent on development, operation and using of data centres services
The aim of the audit was to scrutinise the management of funds spent on building and operating the national data centre (hereinafter “STC1 data centre”), including the expenditure of selected ... organisational units of the state on buying hosting, server-housing and other related services. The audited period was between 2010 and 2014; where relevant, the preceding period was also scrutinised. Audited ... entities: Ministry of the Interior (“MoI”); Ministry of Finance (“MoF”); STÁTNÍ TISKÁRNA CENIN, state firm (state banknote printing firm, hereinafter “STC” or “the state firm”). The audit was conducted ... ... Risks steming from uncoordinated strategy ... SAI of Czech Republic analysed consequences of failures in strategic IT management at the state level. Lack of coordination and implementation rules reduced practical role of the ministry whose task ... was to guard high quality standards for all crucial IT systems in the state administration. Next consecquences were (among others) risk of uneconomical results of large IT investment and risk of inefficient ... supply of services, as well as opposite results of workforce reduction.
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State aid for IT projects in social and health care
In 2000-2009 about 180 million euros in national and European Union funds went to finance information technology projects in social and health care, not including the costs of developing national ... information system services (KanTa project) or the National Project for Social Services IT (Tikesos project). Financing has been provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs and H ealth, the Finnish Funding ... Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes), regional councils (previously state provincial offices), and indirectly by the Slot Machine Association under the direction of the Ministry of Social Affairs ... Difficult coordination of IT projects ... Finish Audit Office analyzed results of poor cooperation between authorities on national and local level in social and health care projects: difficult integration of information systems and poor ... coordination of the financing information technology projects, including double financing.
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Storage of Electronic Documents and Data at the National Archives of Latvia
Ever since electronic documents with legal force equivalent to that of paper documents have entered our daily lives and the majority of state administration processes have been transferred ... to electronic information systems, the role of the archives has become unclear — whether an inhabitant can rely on that the archives will be able to issue statements in the areas, which are currently processed ... in electronic form, many years later.<br/> The audit concerning the storage of electronic documents was carried out in order to assess the development of the area of electronic document circulation and storage ... ... Do Archives ensure the storage of e-documents? ... National archives fulfil an important function for storing the documentary heritage and became one of the most important sources of information. But after electronic documents have entered our daily ... lives and majority of state administration processes have been transferred to electronic information systems, the archives still have a lot of work to do for improving the storage of electronic documents ... . SAI Latvia analysed causes of over 12 years with no progress in this domain.
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Is the project 'E-health in Latvia' a step towards the right direction?
Objective of the audit was to verify efficiency and productivity of the actions by the institutions in charge for implementation of the e-health, as well as to audit economy and productivity of use ... of funds invested in the project for achievement of set objectives and gaining the planned benefits. Audit covered such main questions: 1) Will the e-health policy be able to solve problems and achieve ... the objective? 2) Are the actual activities performed by the National Health Service justified for achievement of the set objectives? 3) Will necessary information security and personal data protection be ensured ... E-health is a step forward in right direction, but not all objectives will be reached! ... Project “E-health in Latvia” supports healthy lifestyle, it will provide valuable and accessible information and will promote more efficient provision of services to patients. It is undoubtedly ... a step towards the right direction then. However, as found the Latvian SAI, the e-health policy will not be implemented within the initially planned scope and deadline and within set data security levels ... , thus the objective of this policy – to promote more effective provision of healthcare services will be attained only partially.
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