Basescu: IT health care system is not ready. HP: It is functional, but it needs to be extended

The 120 million-euro IT system that should help the state keep track of the insured and of contributors to the health care system is not functional almost ten years after the start of the project, said the Romanian president almost a week ago, at a forum dedicated to electronic governance systems. The head of state is not well informed – the IT system is functional, with its only problem being that it needs to be extended, say companies and institutions involved.

How do things stand in fact? The IT system of the National Health Insurance House (CNAS), probably the most discussed IT project in Romania, generated many scandals and controversies ever since the selection of the winning consortium, led by American-held Compaq. HP Romania, one of the companies that contested the winning of the tender by Compaq, later took over the project after HP bought Compaq in an international transaction. Over time, the IT system generated many other controversies, so the president’s statements did not come as a surprise. “Maybe Romanian officials can find an explanation as to why the completion of the IT system in the Romanian health care system is taking so long,” Basescu said.

Without wishing to comment directly on the statements of the head of state, Radu Enache, CEO of HP Romania, contradicts Traian Basescu. “The IT system of CNAS is functional, it has already enabled the elimination of double registration by the insured people, and the identification of non-compliance with health care insurance norms,” Enache said.