Federation of Social Insurances (2024)

The Federation of Social Insurances is the umbrella organisation of the statutory health, accident and pension insurance institutions in Austria. It represents and coordinates the interests and activities of the five Austrian Social Insurance Institutions:

• Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK): health insurance
• Pension Insurance Institution (PVA): pension insurance
• Social Security Institution for the Self-employed (SVS): health, pension and accident insurance
• Insurance Institution for Public Service Employees, Railways & Mining Industry (BVAEB): health, pension and accident insurance
• Austrian Workers' Compensation Board (AUVA): accident insurance

The Federation of Social Insurances was established by law in 1948 as Hauptverband der Sozialversicherungsträger, later Hauptverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger and has had its current name since 1 January 2020.

Tasks and legal basis

Federation of Social Insurances (Dachverband)was established in the Allgemeine Sozialversicherungsgesetz (ASVG), which also lists its most important tasks.

The Federation of Social Insurances plays a central role in:

• handling administrative tasks across institutions in social insurance,
• setting up guidelines to promote the efficiency and uniformity of the social security institutions’ executive practice and
• coordinating the executive activities of the social security institutions.

General tasks of the Association

The tasks of the Federation of Social Insurances for the individual insurance institutions include

• Running a common EDP system (since 1972) and administrating all data important for allAustrian Social Insurance Institutions together (central partner administration ZPV)
• Managing an electronic signature-enabled administration system that includes the e-card
• According to § 30c para. 1 sub-section 8 ASVG, §§ 31a ff. ASVG (electronic administration system – ELSY), handling the issue of the e-card is one of the main tasks. It serves as a key card for numerous applications in the health system and as the European health insurance card (EHIC) for access to health systems in the EU and equivalent nations of the European Economic Area
• Passing on registration and settlement data (“data hub Main Association“) for Austrian Social Insurance Institutions, hospitals, contractual partners, employers, employment offices; issuing social insurance numbers; providing information for courts and authorities as provided by law, such as assisting in censuses
• Concluding framework agreements for theAustrian Social Insurance Institutions with the respective professional associations regarding medical treatment, mother-child passport benefits, occupational medicine, preventative medical check-ups, provision of medicines, psychotherapy etc.
• Publishing a Reimbursem*nt Code for social insurance that lists eligible medicines available outside hospitals paid for by a social insurance institution. See § 30b para. 1 sub-section 4 ASVG.
• Drawing up guidelines for uniform implementation of laws by the Austrian Social Insurance Institutions, providing forms of all kinds
• Controlling, comparing KPIs
• Evaluating parliamentary bills
• Providing information for courts and authorities as provided by law, such as assisting in censuses. See: § 30c para. 1 sub-section 2 lit. b ASVG (Providing information).
• Representing theAustrian Social Insurance Institutions in general matters and as a cross-border liaison body with other states
• Approving construction projects
• Training professional staff for theAustrian Social Insurance Institutions at the Akademie der Sozialversicherung, Preparing for job-related exams
• Negotiating collective agreements for white and blue-collar workers, doctors and dentists in facilities of the Austrian Social Insurance Institutions. Roughly 27,000 people in Austria work on the basis of three service regulations and the pension-fund collective agreement.
• According to § 30c para. 1 sub-section 5 ASVG, the Federation of Social Insurances is also responsible for producing the Soziale Sicherheit magazine. It has been published since 1948 and can also be accessed electronically at the Nationalbibliothek.

Organisation

The Federation of Social Insurances is a legal entity in accordance with public law. It is run in independent administration by insurance representatives following the “by insured persons for insured persons” principle. This form of organisation is based on Art. 120a of the Austrian Constitution. Members of the insured community are selected to serve on two bodies, the so-called independent administration bodies.

The Federation of Social Insurances has two independent administration bodies:

• a managing body: the Conference ofAustrian Social Insurance Institutions
• a supervisory body: the General Assembly ofSocial Insurances

The Conference of Social Insurances

The Conference of SocialInsurances consists of ten members:

• the chairpersons of the five social security institutions and
  
• the respective deputies of the chairpersons

The ten members of the Conference elect two chairpersons amongst themselves who alternate as chairpersons for half a year in turn. In the current term of office (1 January 2020 to 31 December 2024) these are

• Peter Lehner (chairman of the SVS) for the first half of the year and
• Andreas Hussfor the second half of the year (deputy chairmanof the ÖGK).

The Conference of Social Insurances represents the Federation of Social Insurances externally. It handles all tasks that are not explicitly allocated to the General Assembly (general competence). This includes

• deciding the statute of the Federation of Social Insurances,
• deciding the model statute for the insurance institutions,
• deciding guidelines valid for all social security institutions,
• deciding binding targets and objectives (strategic, operational and financial) and checking their implementation and
• preparing the annual budget, which will then be presented to the General Assembly for final approval.

In addition, it decides projects, awards contracts and makes personnel decisions. The Conference normally meets once per month.

The General Assembly of Social Insurances

The General Assembly is the supervisory body of the Federation of Social Insurances and consists of 21 members.

Members of the General Assembly include

• the presiding chairpersons of the governing boards of the social security institutions and
• the chairpersons and their deputies of the general assemblies of the social security institutions.

Persons that are a member of these groups have a vote in the General Assembly.

Members of the General Assembly also include

• three representatives of the pensioners’ associations and
• three representatives of the disabled rights’ organisations.

Members of these groups do not have a vote in the General Assembly.

The chairpersons of the General Assembly come from the same institution as the respective chairpersons of the Conference of Social Security Institutions.

The General Assembly has three important tasks:

• It approves the annual budget presented by the Conference.
• It appoints the auditors for the annual accounts and also approves the latter.
• It discharges the Conference.

The General Assembly meets at least twice a year.

Principle of independent administration

It is the aim of independent administration to have the provision of benefits organised by the groups of persons involved themselves, within a statutory framework. As the groups involved are recipients of the benefits, pay for these themselves, and thus the tasks are overwhelmingly or exclusively in the interest of the insured community, it is also very much in their interest to use the funds available sensibly and economically.

In a self-administrated system, the state thus transfers tasks it could basically handle itself to organisations established by law, such as the social security institutions and the Federation of Social Insurances.

The insurance representatives, that is the members of the self-administrating bodies of the social security institutions and the Federation of Social Insurances, are appointed by employers’ and employees’ associations. Self-administration is democratically legitimised because the members are appointed based on the election results in the chambers (chambers of labour, chambers of commerce and chambers of agriculture). The term of office for the self-administrating bodies of the social security institutions and the Federation of Social Insurances is five years (currently from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2024).

Within their own sphere of activities, the social security institutions and the Federation of Social Insurances can fulfil their statutory tasks without being subject to receiving directives from state administrative authorities.

Supervision

The Constitution also provides for the State to have the right to supervise the self-administrated organisations. The regulators are the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Office management

The office of the Federation of Social Insurances is run by a managing director and his/her deputy. The Conference of Social Security Institutions entrusts them with day-to-day management. Both are appointed for a period of four years and are subject to receiving directives from the Conference of Social Security Institutions.

Their tasks include:

• Ongoing administrative transactions, if in individual cases no more than one and a half times the respective year’s upper limit for services, according to § 12 para. 1 sub-section 1 BVerG 2018 is not exceeded (in 2020: 216,000 euros)
• Personnel matters, if these are not handled directly by the Conference
• Initiating and engaging at proceedings at courts and administrative authorities, and acting as a party to the proceedings, with the exception of proceedings at the Constitutional Court
• Providing advisory opinions in evaluation procedures
• Representing the Federation of Social Insurances externally in those matters that do not require a decision of the Conference or the General Assembly
• Granting signatory power and power of disposition in banking matters for amounts already approved, in coordination with the chairperson of the Conference
• Initiating inspection activities of internal auditing, as well as approving the inspection plans
• Regularly purchasing objects and materials required for continuously running operations
• Assigning necessary recurring asks for safeguarding flawless operations and maintain operational safety
• Changes in the Reimbursem*nt Code and negotiating prices of medicine
• Money and capital market transactions for managing the finances of the Federation of Social Insurances and the fund to be administrated by it, in coordination with the chairperson of the Conference and the deputy.

Foundation

The Federation of Social Insurances in its current form was established by the Sozialversicherungs-Organisationsgesetz SV-OG, which set down the reorganisation of social security institutions and its umbrella organisation as from 1 January 2020. The predecessor organisation of today’s Dachverband was the Hauptverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger. Although in 2020 the organisational structure was significantly altered and the name was changed, the underlying legal entity (and according to the legal stipulations “institutional infrastructure”) remained the same, and therefore all legal relations automatically remain intact for the time being.

Office building

The office building of the Federation of Social Insurances is located at Kundmanngasse 21 in Vienna’s third district. In 2019 it was reopened following major renovation. The architects of Chaix & Morel et Associés from Paris were the winners in a competition in which 65 projects participated. The building was furnished with a new front that now also better takes into account the Wittgenstein-Haus to the north.

Publications

The Federation of Social Insurances is required by law to publish the “Soziale Sicherheit” professional journal. All volumes of this journal, from its foundation in 1948 onwards, are available at the Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek im Internet, more recent editions also at the homepage of the Federation of Social Insurances and in the magazine collection of the legal database of the Manz-Verlag (from 1978).

Legal stipulations issued by the Federation of Social Insurances, are announced and publishes on the internet, including all amendments and changes, in their binding and authentic version. The announcements can be found in the documentation of Austrian social insurance law SozDok, as well as under ris.bka.gv.at on the internet in their current versions (and also earlier versions).

Umbrella agreements that the Federation of Social Insurances of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions concludes with professional associations (chambers) of doctors, dentists, midwives, psychologists, opticians, medical stores, medical institutes, hospitals and other professional groups active in the health sector are also published on the internet.