THE GESY SOFTWARE IS A PUZZLE - THE AUDI OFFICE WILL PROCEED WITH AN AUDIT WITH A SPECIALIZED FIRM - Filenews 23/4 by Marilena Panayi
With time running out, since based on recent positions on the part of the Health Insurance Organization, in the Parliament, at the end of May, the contract of the Organization with the private company that manages the GHS software expires and the discussions between them evolving into a consultation for very strong nerves, the Audit Office is now entering the frame.
The Audit Office, as we are informed, is preparing to announce a tender for the purchase of services by specialized professionals, with the aim of conducting an independent and in-depth audit of the system, with this initiative being part of the interventions already carried out by the Service in the recent past, expressing concerns about the way the relevant contract is implemented.
The planned audit will not be limited to the technical issues that occurred in the operation of the software, but will also concern the compliance with the contractual obligations of the contractor company towards the Health Insurance Organization (HIO) and certainly special emphasis will be given to whether clauses provided for in the contract were activated, or should have been activated in cases of errors, omissions or malfunctions.
Of course, the time that the Audit Office has ahead of it is, at the moment, limited if we take into account the tight time frame that exists until the expiration of the current contract, as in case the HIO manages to complete the process of its release from the cooperation with the contractor company, then from the beginning of June it is expected to take over the management of the GHS software itself.
At the moment and despite the intensive consultations of the last few weeks between the two sides (HIO and the contractor), no agreement has yet been reached on how the transfer of the management of the software will take place.
The differences between the two sides have not been fully bridged and according to some of those involved in the whole process, a possible "divorce" in a confrontational way is not considered the best possible solution, as it may create additional difficulties in an already demanding transition period.
The Government had also been involved in the effort to bridge the differences in the previous period, with the Minister of Health and the Deputy Minister of Innovation making their interventions with the aim of achieving a consensual solution.
The aim of these interventions was to ensure that the cooperation between the HIO and the contractor company would be completed in a smooth manner, while at the same time the company would continue to provide technical support to the Organization during the first critical stage of the transition.
Crucial for the success of this process is the delivery of all the necessary data and technical settings from the current system operator to the HIO.
Without full access to the operating parameters of the software, the work of the Organization will be particularly difficult and the possibility of affecting the operation of the GHS in general will be very great. For this reason, the common goal remains to avoid a head-on collision that would make the situation even more difficult.
It is recalled that the last official position of the HIO on the issue was made during the discussion of the GHS budget in Parliament, when the president of the board of directors of the Organization, Stavros Michael, announced that from May the HIO plans to take over the management of the system's software.
