Research

Through research activity, INMSS aims to contribute to the development of a health system in which policies and strategies are based on scientific evidence from research so that the rightful beneficiaries, the citizens, have access to quality health care according to their specific needs.

Directions for action in research:

• It carries out research and development activities in the field of health services management;
• Provides technical assistance and consultancy in the field of health services management;
• Conduct population and service provider surveys to assess health service coverage and needs for health services and/or population health programmes and in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health, hereinafter referred to as INSP, for preventive services;
• It collects data electronically on hospital medical services and on this basis monitors and analyses the activity of health units;
• Analyses and monitors the activities of health service providers based on health service data, including for various programmes, studies and research;
• It classifies discharged patients by diagnostic groups, analyses, monitors and confirms cases reported by health units, studies, develops and improves the system for classifying patients by diagnostic groups;
• It calculates costs and relative values for diagnostic groups, proposes changes in relative values or fees per diagnostic group and fees per case, under the coordination of the Ministry of Health;
• Participates in the development of automated systems and computer programs within the health care system for the classification of patients into diagnostic groups, clinical data collection and coding, and health care management for research and development purposes;
• Develops and delivers courses in the areas of patient classification by diagnostic group, clinical data collection and use of coding systems, issuing certificates attesting to training in the field;
• Develop performance and quality criteria for health service providers and in collaboration with INSP for preventive services;
• It carries out analysis and monitoring activities of the health services paid from the Single National Health Insurance Fund, on the basis of the contracts concluded with the National Health Insurance House, for hospital medical services provided to the insured in order to contract and settle them by the health insurance houses, under the conditions of the framework contract approved by Government decision;
• Ensures the functioning of a system for the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation);
• Provides, at the request of the NPHS, data on hospital health services to assess the health status of the population;
• It prepares annual reports on the geographical coverage of health services and submits them to the Minister of Health;
• Proposes to the Minister of Health measures to achieve equitable geographical coverage of health services.

In order to optimise and streamline the research activity within the INMSS, the research activity is grouped into main categories, such as:

• Carrying out research and development activities and providing technical research assistance in the field of public and private health and health management;
• Conducting applied research, prevalence studies of diseases and risk behaviours;
• Carrying out operational research to improve management and quality of services;
• Conduct pilot studies, national studies and participate in international studies;
• Carrying out other specific activities in the field of public health and health management, such as health promotion, conducting studies and applications to assess and improve the performance of the health system or other documentation, analyses and projects to support the reform process in the context of current policies and strategies;
• Providing advice on health service reform and management (health policy development and documentation strategies, market analyses, feasibility studies, etc.);
• Conduct studies for health promotion actions;
  • development and implementation of qualitative and quantitative studies that underpin IEC (information, education, communication) campaigns;
  • design, conduct, monitor and evaluate IEC campaigns and develop the necessary materials;
  • short-, medium- and long-term health promotion and health education strategies;
• To develop and improve the research skills of health and social/community care professionals;
• Research, evaluation of health services and dissemination of results;
• Evaluating hospital performance to support the goal of improving hospital performance through accountable, evidence-based management;
• Involvement in evaluating and improving the quality of health services;
• Dissemination of research results (participation in conferences, seminars, publication of scientific articles, etc.)

DRG

The DRG Centre, which operates within the Centre for Human Resources, Evaluation and Analysis of Health Services of the INMSS structure, has among its established objectives, the collection and management of the minimum set of patient-level data (SMDP) in continuous and day hospitalisation from all hospitals in Romania, based on the legislation in force. (according to MS and CNAS Order 1782/2006 on the registration and statistical reporting of patients receiving medical services in continuous hospitalization and day hospitalization as amended).

Our main beneficiaries are health units with beds, together with MS, CNAS and other public and private institutions working in the health system.

The activities of the centre consist of:

• Development of a national standard for the SMDP collected and transmitted by hospitals, centralisation and processing of data at hospital level;
• Provide reports on diagnostic group classification and validation of cases reported by hospitals;
• Methodological support and technical assistance for representatives of hospitals and health insurance funds, respectively the Ministry of Health;
• Analysis of hospital activity, by monitoring the evolution of hospital activity, by calculating and reporting indicators on the clinical activity carried out and the accuracy of data collected in electronic format;
• Develop performance and quality criteria for health service providers;
• Calculation of some healthcare costs;
• Proposing changes in relative values or tariffs per diagnostic group and tariffs per case managed, under the coordination of the Ministry of Health;
• Development of automated systems and computer programs to classify patients into diagnostic groups for research purposes;
• Endorsement of software products for classifying patients into diagnostic groups, developed by private providers, for use in evaluating the work of health facilities;
• Development and delivery of courses in the areas of patient classification by diagnostic group, clinical data collection and use of coding systems, as well as the issuance of certificates attesting to training in this area;
• Various analyses, courses and methodologies at the request of the various beneficiaries in relation to the Centre’s scope of activity.

For more details click
here
.

Platform
www.drg.ro
, is dedicated to the management of the SMDP (SC + SZ) reporting process and active communication with users, by access level, with the following roles:

CONSULTANCY AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

The National Institute for Health Services Management (INMSS) has for many years been a technical advisory forum for the main actors in the health services system.

In this respect, the NPHS participates proactively in the evidence-based scientific underpinning of proposals for policies, strategies and interventions in the field of public health and health management in order to improve the effectiveness, quality, safety and efficiency of health services.

EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE

The National Institute for Health Services Management (NICE) has international collaborations in evidence-based medicine with The Joanna Briggs Institute, Adelaide, Australia, and the Institute of Health Economics, Edmonton, Canada.

INMSS runs training courses in Evidence Based Medicine/Practice and training courses in the field of health technology assessment, as well as consultancy activities in this field.

Website
Joanna Briggs Institute

https://jbi.global/

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT

Defining Health Technology Assessment (HTA)

Health technologies is the application of scientific information to health and prevention.

Health Technology Assessment – (HTA) is a multidisciplinary process that summarises medical, social, economic and ethical information related to the use of health technologies in a systematic, transparent, robust and error-free manner. The aim of this process is to formulate safe and effective health policies that are patient-focused and seek to deliver the greatest value.

Although HTA is about policy formulation, the process itself needs to be deeply rooted in scientific research and methodology.

Some areas where HTA can be used

1. Methods of diagnosis and treatment
2. Medical equipment
3. Pharmaceutical industry
4. Prevention and recovery methods
5. Organisational and support systems for the health system itself.

The National Institute for Health Services Management (INMSS) is concerned with this area, both in terms of the actual process of carrying out evaluation analyses and by providing courses in this area for those interested. INMSS is an associate member of the European HTA network (
EUnetHTA
) and will participate in the project coordinated by this network called “Joint action for HTA 2010-2012”. For more details see
here
.