Quality management in health insurance: A case of third‐party benchmarking

Abstract

As part of the preparations for the accession of Slovenia to the European Union, the National Health Insurance Institute has introduced a European model for quality management. In this regard, a benchmarking has been carried out, comparing the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia with the Accounts Office of Cumbernauld in the UK. This was a so‐called generic benchmarking between two public service organisations in different fields and it was made by third parties focusing on the quality of the processes of the two organisations. The results of the comparative analysis show that the health insurance institute has strong financial management, supported by a well‐developed model for partnership negotiations and advanced applications of information technology. There are, however, weaknesses in the management of human resources and quality improvements. To counteract these weaknesses requires a cultural change within the health insurance institute.

Citation

Axelsson, R., Bihari‐Axelsson, S. and Steen, L. (2004), "Quality management in health insurance: A case of third‐party benchmarking", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 264-274. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513550410530180