As previously reported, the delegation of the World Bank Technical Assistance Mission is on a working visit to our country.

Within the framework of the visit, a workshop was hosted jointly by The Ministry of Health, the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance (SAMHI), the Administration of the Regional Medical Divisions (TABIB) and the World Bank. The workshop's main aim was to provide technical assistance in developing electronic healthcare (e-Health) and medical claims management systems.

At the event, which was attended by representatives of the relevant institutions, as well as academia and development partners, presentations and discussions were held on the technical evaluations conducted by the World Bank team and the recommendations regarding the options for legislative changes necessary for the provider's payment system and e-Health.

During his speech at the opening ceremony, Chairman of the Board of the State Agency for Mandatory Health Insurance Zaur Aliyev, Deputy Minister of Health of Azerbaijan Nadir Zeynalov, Executive Director of TABIB Vugar Gurbanov and Deputy Country Manager of the World Bank for Azerbaijan Saida Baghirli emphasized the importance of digitalization of the health care system in the modern world. It was brought to the attention that the accuracy and transparency of information play a vital role in the decision-making process. Since the medical data includes both patient information and financial issues, it forms an extensive database. It was noted that database management is the backbone of digital health. Managing the database and ensuring exchange with other databases is the basis of the digitization of healthcare. One of the significant challenges regarding the topic is the confidentially of personal medical information.

The workshop continued with panel sessions.

The panel session was held under the moderation of the adviser to the Minister of Health on digitalization of healthcare Rufat Hajialibeyov. The panel's topic was: “Options for legislative changes needed for e-Health in Azerbaijan.” R. Hajialibeyov emphasized that the common goal is to provide citizens with affordable medical services in all regions. According to him, at present, this can be achieved through the use of modern information technologies. It was emphasized that to ensure the implementation of digital healthcare and the improvement of medical services, it is necessary to make appropriate changes to the legislative framework.

World Bank's senior experts on digital health, Peter Ross, Isa Aliyev and Parviz Ahmedov, made presentations at the session. The experts presented the results of the claims management system analysis and their suggestions for improving the digital data exchange in the health care system of Azerbaijan. Then discussions were held on the topic. Elchin Gadirov, head of the Legal Department of the Ministry of Health, Aysel Ibayeva, head of the Legal Department of SAMHI and other specialists, answered the audience's questions.

In the panel session entitled " Provider Payment System: Diagnosis and Recommendations for Azerbaijan", the World Bank's senior experts on the provider payment system, Kristina Kahur, Andres Raunnamae and Alexander Katsaga, presented their findings. After extensive discussions around the topic, answers were given to the audience's questions.