Round Table Discussion Healthcare Manager – Vital Necessity or Tribute to Fashion?

On 21 November a round table discussion “Healthcare Manager - Vital Necessity or Tribute to Fashion?” took place in St. Petersburg. Among the participants of the event were not only officials of big healthcare institutions, both state and privately owned, but also representatives of educational institutions and representatives of the executive and legislative bodies of the City of St. Petersburg. According to the executive secretary of the Regional Association of Managers in Medical Service (RAMMS) Larisa Y. Petrenko, MD, PH.D, such discussion was held for the fist time and it brought together people engaged in different spheres, united by their common wish to improve healthcare system within the national Health project. Such a broad discussion was caused on the one hand by clear understanding of the RAMMS’ leaders that healthcare service should be managed by professionals, on the other hand, by continuous search for new ways to increase the functional effectiveness of medical organization.

According to the President of RAMMS and the Director of Educational and Business Centre, Doctor of Economics Professor Olga A. Strakhova, effective management of any healthcare institution nowadays can be carried out only by a person who has special knowledge in the field of general management. This person should be a flexible strategist, capable of creating work-teams of specialists focused on solving specific problems. In her speech Prof. Strakhova also emphasized the strategic role of post-graduate managerial education for health care executives. To raise the competence of medical executives in strategic, financial and personnel management a unique program of Management in Medical Service was created on the basis of the St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, and it has been successfully implemented for six years. The graduates of this educational program have made up the backbone of RAMMS.

The participants of the round table placed a specific emphasis on the role of a manager in a medical institution. In this connection, the important issue is the effectiveness of resource management, which is possible only providing the division of functions and responsibilities between a professional manager and a head physician. The members of RAMMS are sure that the appropriate and effective healthcare management is possible only within this approach. The manager is to be engaged in business and economic issues, whereas the head physician only deals with the matters related to healthcare. Such is the common practice in all medical institutions in developed countries. In Russia today, there are also some good examples of everyday practice when a medical organization is run by a manager or a director who does not have a medical diploma. The vast majority of such organizations are privately-owned clinics.

The round table was organized by the Regional association of managers in medical service (RAMMS), which was created in St. - Petersburg in December 2005.

The Association is a synergy of advanced science, as presented by the Higher School of Economics and Finance of the St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, and practical medicine, as presented by a number of executives of the city’s multi-field hospitals. Among its members are head physicians of medical services, managers of self-financing departments and chiefs of private medical centers. A member of the association is a health executive with a special diploma in the field of management. The major strategic task of the Association is to increase the effectiveness of healthcare management as one of the indispensable conditions for the improvement of healthcare quality.

Contact persons: Alexander J. Golyshev M.D., Ph.D., CEO,

Regional Association of Managers in Medical Service (RAMMS);

e-mail: dp5@zdrav.spb.ru, golyschev@db5.ru, Larisa Y. Petrenko, MD, PH.D, Executive Secretary, Regional Association of Managers in Medical Service (RAMMS);

e-mail: lpetrenkospb@gmail.ru, lpetrenko@inbox.ru