The Medical Directorate of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) is implementing a training initiative, entitled “Public Service and Quality of Care: Towards a new ISSSTE” (El Servicio Público y la Calidad en la Atención: Por un nuevo ISSSTE), aimed at security personnel in medical units who play a key role in caring for service users.

The creation of artificial skin is an innovative technological development that has the potential to revolutionize the education and learning process. It is a tool with a new and exciting approach that makes it possible to create realistic and authentic products that imitate the feel of human skin. This is particularly important in health education where students need to have a deep understanding of the functioning of the human body.

The Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) provides social security to more than 21 million workers linked to more than 1 million registered employers. These employers must register their workers with the IMSS and pay social security contributions. The collection of such contributions accounts for 93 per cent of IMSS revenue, i.e. its operating funds.

People with disabilities are one of society’s most excluded groups and usually have the most difficulties in accessing health, education, employment, and social security. Current policies are either not inclusive, or are still in the initial stages, and thus do not protect the rights of this group. We need rules and regulations that support us in taking action to better protect their rights. Even more importantly, we need to properly understand their needs in order to provide quality care.

As part of the process to develop the Retirement Savings System (SAR) for the benefit of working people, the general provisions to which Retirement Fund Administrators must adhere in relation to their outreach staff were modified in February 2022, creating the role of Pension Advisor. Their main objective will be to advise and manage procedures and services related to workers’ retirement savings accounts, in order to encourage account registration and promote voluntary savings.

Mexico’s National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro – CONSAR) aims to transform the Retirement Savings System (Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro – SAR) to put workers at the heart of decision-making.

Safe and healthy work environments (Entornos laborales seguros y saludables – ELSSA) is a free, voluntary and non-punitive programme from the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) that aims to foster three-way coordination and participation between companies, workers and the IMSS. It looks to implement strategies and actions to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of workers in workplaces, while at the same time promoting productivity and quality.

In 2022, the Beneficiary Services Unit (Unidad de Atención a la Derechohabiencia – UAD) of the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) put together a cross-cutting strategy with specific lines of action to improve and prioritize user request management, in order to prevent complaints.

In addition, we looked to use information gathered through the strategy to improve care quality in IMSS medical and administrative units and make strategic visits to the units with the highest number of complaints nationwide.

The medical record system is a solution that has allowed the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) to move from having isolated information models at the three levels of care to having an integrated automated model. This makes it easier for doctors to access a patient’s medical record during a consultation, regardless of the practice, medical unit, care level or city in which the patient received previous medical care.

It is necessary to strengthen HIV prevention measures through the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Since the year 2021, the use of PrEP has been initiated nationwide in Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social ‒ IMSS), being the first institutional initiative in our country. At the last cut-off, there were 2130 people in treatment with Emtricitabine/Tenofovir distributed throughout the national territory, although most of them are in Mexico City and suburban areas.

Mexico’s Retirement Savings System (Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro – SAR) is an efficient way of financing pensions that ensure people can live a dignified life once they stop working. Social and economic protection in old age is a constitutional responsibility of the State, and this right must be supported by individualized, reliable, transparent and securely safeguarded records and information. In this way, it is possible to guarantee the person is able to fully exercise their social right.

The Health Care Administration and Management Platform (Ambiente para la Administración y Manejo de Atenciones en Salud – AAMATES) of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) is a sectoral initiative run jointly by the National Digital Strategy Committee (Coordinación de Estrategia Digital Nacional) and the Ministry of Health that is aimed at standardizing clinical processes in medical units at the primary care level at the national level, which mak

As part of the actions carried out at the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) to promote equality and gender perspectives and prevent discrimination and violence, the “equal in rights, we unite for equality” (Iguales en derechos, nos unimos por la igualdad) strategy was developed jointly with the National Union of Social Security Workers (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Seguro Social – SNTSS).

The Medical Directorate of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE), through its National Office of Mental Health (Jefatura Nacional de Salud Mental), prioritizes the implementation of the guidelines set out in the Comprehensive Mental Health Programme (Programa Integral de Salud Mental), as approved by the Board of Directors on 25 March 2021, in order to strengthen the holistic, biopsychosocial care of its users.

With the publication of the agreement establishing the provisions and administrative manual on the widespread implementation of internal controls, the most recent version of which was published on 5 September 2018, the Public Services Secretariat (Secretaría de la Función Pública) established criteria on internal controls, which must be observed in areas covered by the Federal Public Administration (Administración Pública Federal).

For an employee to receive financial benefits from the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS), their employer needs to have correctly registered them with the IMSS and they have to be paying contributions based on their actual salary. If this is not the case, their social security rights are affected and if they do not accumulate the required number of weeks of contributions, they may not meet the requirements to receive their pension.

The quality of health services is an urgent necessity in order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it is estimated that up to 80 per cent of the people who become infected only exhibit mild symptoms, the primary challenge facing health systems is in dealing with moderate or severe manifestations that require hospital care.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the requirements of the services responsible for providing care during said pandemic, the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) implemented a data governance strategy designed to provide key areas with valuable information on aspects such as health, staff management, training and the monitoring of materials and supplies The aim is to facilitate decision-making through a single information source.

The National Scientific Research Committee (Comité Nacional de Investigación Científica - CNIC) of the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) aims to evaluate, record and monitor health research protocols that meet the requirements for consideration.

In 2017 the IMSS launched the Electronic Research Record System (Sistema de Registro Electrónico de Investigación - SIRELCIS) in order to reduce the time needed to evaluate research protocols submitted to the CNIC for review.

As a result of the SARS-CoV-2 health crisis, the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) introduced an initiative to provide training for and consolidate know-how among nursing staff caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the laryngoscope is an essential instrument within clinical practice for the intubation or insertion of endotracheal tubes, including in patients with COVID-19.

Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) has a large proportion of beneficiaries over the age of 70 – nearly 3 million out of a total of 13.5 million. There is a need, therefore, for a specific strategy to provide care for them and offer them the best possible protection in combating the COVID-19 epidemic.

The epidemic caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) in other countries at the start of 2020 highlighted the need to prepare an institutional response to face this threat, aggravated by a lack of information and uncertainty surrounding the extent of the risk posed to beneficiaries.

With the aim of providing the medical staff of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) with relevant information to help them tackle the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) epidemic, a decision was made to draft operational prevention and care guides for patients infected with the virus and for other activities relating to care for beneficiaries in this context.

The “Oxygen at Home” (Oxígeno en Casa) system of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) is a technological tool that manages the prescription of home oxygen to eligible patients. It also provides monthly monitoring of how the service is being delivered in all medical units with a view to strengthening this health insurance service that protects, promotes and restores health, thereby improving patients’ quality of life.

The Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) developed the online education platform “IMSS Massive Online Courses” (Cursos en Línea Masivos del IMSS - CLIMSS) to promote health education to its beneficiaries and the general public. The aim was to disseminate knowledge that would improve the health of the population.

The telephone assistance programme established by the Mexican State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) provides prompt and timely care to its beneficiaries regarding the epidemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19).

The Medical Directorate of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) has recently implemented a robotic therapist mental health programme. The programme is delivered with the help of “LaLuchy Robotina”, the humanoid robot, and provides care to hospitalized patients, their families and health-care staff.

From the beginning of the pandemic, the Medical Directorate of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE), rolled out Project Harley “El Tuerto” (The one-eyed dog), the world’s only intervention providing emotional support and humanitarian assistance through canine therapy to health personnel working in COVID-19 care with a view to reducing their psychological stress.

The Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) has a systematic overview of materials and all kinds of supplies and services such as: medical equipment, diagnostic tools, surgical and curative material, sanitary products and all types of goods and supplies necessary to face the health emergency caused by COVID-19.

The electronic personal loan allocation system is a programme designed to improve access, transparency and fairness in how this benefit is granted. It replaced the conventional system that was based on the delivery of supervised application forms to trade union organisations for distribution among workers.

With the declaration of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 as a pandemic in March 2020, the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) set up two new digital services for its beneficiaries which are available 24/7:

The aim of this programme is to raise awareness among the staff of the State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) in Mexico concerning access to health and social security protection, with equality and without discrimination against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and pansexual (LGBTQIAP).

There are two main aspects of the programme:

The Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) is the pillar on which social security in Mexico is built. The Institute is the main health service provider in the country and it carries out its operations largely via its decentralised operational bodies, which look after the needs of beneficiaries in the different municipalities and states in the country.

In response to the growth in the population of elderly beneficiaries of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado ‒ ISSSTE), and given the high incidence in this population of chronic degenerative diseases and identified health phenomena, such as the abandonment of treatments and the identification of specific healthcare and treatment needs, a need arose to create the Gerontological Modules Programme, which aims to provide elderly people with integrated and appropriate healthca

Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) began a process of institutional restructuring to reorganise its operational framework around its eligible beneficiaries, in all processes associated with the provision of the 21 insurances, services and benefits that the law requires of the ISSSTE.

In Mexico, the Institute of Social Security of the State of Guanajuato (Instituto de Seguridad Social del Estado de Guanajuato – ISSEG) has gained in financial strength over the past 20 years. Its actuarial viability is currently projected up to 2082, assuming a real annual return on its reserves of 4 per cent.

Year after year, the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) is modernised in order to expand on its range of digital services offered to beneficiaries. August 2019 saw the culmination of one of the foremost challenges as the granting of old-age severance and old-age pensions was digitised and made simpler. The process was highly complex and meant that the insured population needed to make as many as four visits to IMSS counters.

Over the past 20 years, Mexico’s Institute of Social Security of the State of Guanajuato (Instituto de Seguridad Social del Estado de Guanajuato – ISSEG) has successfully managed to consolidate its actuarial viability. Currently, projections suggest the viability of ISSEG activities is ensured until 2082, if the organization achieves a 4 per cent real rate of return per annum on its reserve. If this return is 100 basis points lower (3 per cent real rate of return), viability is projected to the year 2055, a difference of 27 years.

The aim was to reduce delays and avoid the accelerated increase in rulings issued by the Federal Court of Administrative Justice and the Judicial Branch of the Federation of Mexico. This poses institutional risks that not only stem from impinging on the rights of an eligible pensioner, but can also result in loss of assets, the imposition of fines and sanctions, and in the dismissal of public servants who do not comply with such rulings.

One of Mexico’s commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in Target 3.3 and in line with the approach of accelerating action to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, is to attain 95-95-95: that 95 per cent of those who live with HIV know their serological status; that 95 per cent of them receive treatment; and that 95 per cent have an undetectable viral load.

This programme, “Supervision and medical auditing”, is based on the principle of putting the beneficiary at the centre of our work. It is carried out by a new administrative unit set up to implement and strengthen supervision and guarantee the service quality levels offered by the State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) in Mexico.

In December 2018, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación – SCJN) of Mexico determined that it was unconstitutional for employers to not be required to register domestic workers (DWs) with the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS).

The Education Development Fund (Fondo de Fomento para la Educación - FOFOE) is an administrative body of the Health Education Department (Coordinacion de Educacion en Salud - CES) itself a body of the Health Education, Research and Policy Department, which is a branch of the Medical Benefits Directorate attached to the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS).

The aim of the One-Stop Shop for Beneficiaries programme is to provide a single space devoted entirely to attending to the needs of beneficiaries and to resolving their queries and procedures with the State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE)’s most in-demand services quickly, flexibly and effectively.

The Greet, Listen, Respond (Saludar, Escuchar, Responder – SER IMSS) Programme was jointly implemented in 2016 by the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) and the Mexican National Union of Social Security Workers (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Seguro Social – SNTSS) to transform the culture of service, improve the working environment and enhance treatment in the user service provided to beneficiaries. In 2017 it obtained a Certificate of Merit from the International Social Security Association (ISSA).

The Digital Survey to Assess the Organisational Climate is part of the talent management system of the quality management system, based on the Institutional Model for Competitiveness (MC). It measures indicators such as leadership, communication and information, respect, security measures, staff participation, work objectives, good treatment and care provided to users, a sense of belonging, and family welfare, among others.

In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social − IMSS) is using technology and online platforms to keep people informed about the condition of family members hospitalised with the disease.

To prevent family members from having to leave home, the IMSS has set up a phone line they can call to receive information on the health of their loved ones. Information can also be provided by email.

The medical certificates search engine on the Institute’s website via “Servicios Públicos en Línea” (“Online Public Services”) enables the local offices to verify admissible (public) information on the certificates issued to the Institute’s workers in order to speed up responses to requests for information and prevent the misuse of lost or no longer valid certificates.

• There are learned behaviors among men that make them feel like “superheroes”: hiding pain, postponing visits to the doctor and minimizing any physical indication that something is not right.
• This results in an increase in diseases and in male mortality in Mexico.
• Our campaign seeks to foster a culture of prevention and self-care among men in Mexico.

Within the framework of the Comprehensive Policy on Care for the Elderly (Política Integral de Atención a los Adultos Mayores), and in order to extend training to all those who need to take care of older persons, the State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) offers a multimedia course, which is available in the institutional portal.

This good practice aims to streamline the administrative procedures related to occupational risks and disability in accordance within the following legal framework:

The National Control and Reaction Center (Centro Nacional de Mando y Reacción – CENMAR)  for security in residential facilities for child welfare and development (Estancias de Bienestar y Desarrollo Infantil – EBDIs) is a monitoring system by video-surveillance interconnected via sensors by means of more than 8,700 devices, including intrusion, motion, temperature, smoke and gas sensors, the latter being the most important because once triggered, the gas supply is automatically shut off until the incident is resolved.

Mexico’s National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro – CONSAR) runs a professionalization training programme for the investment and risk management teams of Retirement Fund Administrators (Administradoras de Fondos para el Retiro – AFOREs). In this system, AFOREs’ staff members receive certifications from a recognized and prestigious independent third party that delivers training in financial matters.

The Housing Fund of the State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Fondo de la Vivienda del Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – FOVISSSTE), in collaboration with the State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute’s (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) “National Medical Center November 20”, promoted a pilot program to design an accessible, sustainable and quality housing prototype for people with different abilities.

This best practice made improvements to the curriculum offered to children of nursery (1 year 7 months to 2 years 11 months) and preschool (3 to 6 years) ages in centres for child well-being and development. A comprehensive curriculum was set up to develop knowledge and skills and thus lay the foundation for children’s working lives. The curriculum introduces children to information technology (IT) with fun activities enabling them to acquire skills using computers.

The quality perceived by users of emergency services does not necessarily reflect the technical quality of the care they receive. The emotional condition of users, patients and relatives in such situations means that the degree of satisfaction perceived by them is affected by factors that are quite distinct from the medical care actually provided. This paper presents the outcome of implementing a care model aimed at influencing such areas of opportunity.

The IMSS SER program (saludar (greet), escuchar (listen) and responder (respond)) was jointly implemented in 2016 by the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) and the National Union of Social Security Workers to transform the culture of service of the IMSS, improve the work environment and enhance customer service for beneficiaries based on eight points: 

This good practice arose from the need to have a register of patients with disabling diseases, in compliance with the National Development Plan issued by the Presidency of the Republic.

SUPERVISAR is a digital platform designed by Mexico’s National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro – CONSAR) for internal use to allow officials to manage and monitor supervisory activities.

The main objective of the tool was to standardize and systematize supervision processes and times. It also allowed supervision activity to be managed and monitored.

This innovative program was implemented to improve the quality of care provided by the State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) with the aim of strengthening interpersonal relationships by promoting proper treatment within the organization. The hypothesis is that the absence of quality in work life can result in negative consequences for workers, including work and psychological stress, anxiety, depression or health problems.

The Preliminary Report Authorised Support Unit (Unidad Habilitada de Apoyo al Predictamen - UHAP) of the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) was established in 2016 based on the “Foundations for Collaboration in the Evaluation of Research Protocols for Human Health” agreement, signed by the Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks (Comisión Federal de Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios - COFEPRIS) and the IMSS on 9 October 2014.

The IMSS Digital mobile application is part of the modern model of digital care strategy implemented by the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) in 2013. The IMSS Digital application is a digital channel aimed at the Institute’s strategic objective of deregulating, streamlining and digitizing services and procedures in order to reduce costs and processing times, and enhance quality and user-friendly services. 

In the face of the problem posed by the financial deficit of the Sickness and Maternity Insurance in terms of its coverage for affiliates and pensioners, we had to look for methodologies to assess the future trends of revenues and expenses.

To estimate the coverage expense for Medical Expenses for Pensioners (gastos médicos de pensionados (GMP)), in 2013 we developed an actuarial model with which we could estimate the sufficient leveled premium to settle the future expenses based on the results obtained.

On the grounds of the amendment of the Mexican Social Security Law of 1995, we discerned the need to implement a new actuarial model to valuate the financial situation of the Disability and Life Insurance (seguro de invalidez y vida (SIV)), according to the radical change in the pension scheme. Therefrom, we adjusted the existing actuarial models; however, eventually, the need and challenge of reconsidering the model arose in order to have a model that covered the changes taking place during the terms of the pension scheme.

The National Strategy for Reinforcing Good Personal Treatment at the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS)) has been developed to improve service quality perception for institutional service users at IMSS through eight components:

Before August 2015 more than 3 million pensioners of the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) had to visit its offices at least twice a year to confirm their survival to continue receiving pension payments.

This programme, “Promotion of active aging among the beneficiaries of the State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute” (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) in Mexico, encourages the adoption of habits and good practices allowing elderly adults to have a healthy life, based on promoting active aging. With this aim, courses, workshops and awareness-raising sessions are given and recreational activities held for elderly beneficiaries, depending on their needs.

Mexico has the highest mortality due to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in people over 45 – 27.2 per cent compared to an average of 7.5 per cent (OECD, 2013). For the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS), cardiovascular diseases have been the main cause of years of healthy life lost due to premature death and disability since 2015. They are also the main cause of emergency department visits and the most common reason for consultations.

This programme improves patient care in the accident and emergency departments of second- and third-level hospitals in the country. It involves identifying dissatisfaction among many beneficiaries, patients and family members with the care they receive in this environment as a result of excess demand in these areas and an inadequate response to the beneficiary’s situation in the accident and emergency unit, regardless of whether the emergency is real or only perceived.

The Directorate of Economic, Social and Cultural Benefits is looking to plan, improve and put in place day centres (Casas de Día) for older people, as part of the policy on comprehensive care for older people, approved by the governing body of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) in February 2014.

During the second half of 2013 and the first of half 2014, a comprehensive analysis including all delegations and national administrative units identified the need to develop a tool to provide information and advice to beneficiaries in relation to their personal loans, thus avoiding unnecessary visits to the offices of the State Employees' Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE)).

In 2013, various actions allowed to eliminate the need for pensioners to validate their rights on-site. This practice required pensioners to go personally twice a year to the State Employees' Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE)) to prove they were alive and that they continued to collect their pensions. In these periods, nearly a million pensioners, most of them aged 65 and over, attended one of the 365 national offices.

Mexico’s National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro – CONSAR) is committed to providing Mexican workers with guidance and education on financial and social security matters, specifically in relation to saving for old age. The “CONSAR Collection of Retirement Savings Calculators” (hereinafter Calculators) groups together tools designed for people who will retire under defined-contribution pension systems with individual accounts.

In 2008 the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) created the Model of Competitiveness, Effectiveness and Institutional Results (Modelo de Competitividad, Efectividad y Resultados Institucionales – MOCERI) to encourage the implementation of quality practices, allowing it to have a useful instrument for the exchange of experiences and successful practices. From 2014 onwards, the MOCERI evolved into the Institutional Model for Competitiveness (MC), which incorporated national and international management tools.

There was a year in Mexico when identity theft increased by 141 per cent. According to statistics from the Bank of Mexico, the country has the eighth highest rate of identity theft in the world (Gazette No. 2667, Chamber of Deputies: 2016).

As regards the State Employees' Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE), weaknesses were found in the personal loan approval process that facilitated the falsification of ID documents and loan application forms.

Under the process to improve medical services, the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS)) has designed and implemented the Integrated Health Programmes (PREVENIMSS) strategy, which is based on the use of preventive actions.

With the objective of strengthening its outreach, in 2013 IMSS designed the campaign "Chécate, Mídete, Muévete" (Check, Measure and Move) for the prevention and control of excess weight and obesity, considered to be one of the main public health problems in Mexico.

This service was created to standardize the scheduling of medical consultations, by integrating communication technologies and institutional systems such as the on-line validation of rights. This contributes to the allocation of communities in the same medical unit, strengthening the concept of family medicine and reducing waiting times to access the service.

Consolidated procurement is when multiple contracts for medication and healthcare supplies from multiple healthcare providers are bundled together in a single tender.

The advantages of this for social security and the healthcare system include:

• Nowadays, new technologies offer the opportunity to improve the quality of life of those who use them. In its mission to contribute to the satisfaction and overall wellbeing of its beneficiaries, as well as to provide better quality services, the State Employees' Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE)) has been constantly innovating.

The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), as the largest social security institute in Latin America, services 70 million Mexicans through 6,000 medical units and administrative facilities across the country.

Main Screens:

There are challenges to overcome such as collusion; which could be overcome by considering allocating a key role to consolidated public inter-governmental purchases, in strict compliance with the legal framework to impose sanctions on providers for breach of contract.

The ISSSTE seeks to be involved in the consolidated purchases that the IMSS makes, as part of a strategy and procurement policy for the health sector that should be encouraged to achieve the best contracting conditions for healthcare supplies, such as medication and medical supplies.

Scientific research is an activity that requires a high level of expertise. For the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS), research must have a bearing on medical care capacity and on the generation of new knowledge. Regular evaluation of the CVs of staff who carry out research makes it possible to identify their progress and to guarantee that research is carried out to high quality standards.

The state institute of the ISSSTE in Campeche offers equine therapy as a complementary therapy to traditional techniques in the rehabilitation of a large number of chronic and subacute diseases, including physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, stroke, multiple sclerosis, as well as psychiatric or psychological disorders such as autism, emotional and cognitive problems, to name but a few.

The main outcome has been a notable improvement in processes that has made it possible to strengthen the policies on efficiency and savings developed under the current administration, which has also resulted in total savings of some 4 billion dollars. This has in turn increased the competence of suppliers in submitting tenders to the Institute, as well as greater efficiency in purchasing processes.

The Procurement Portal brings together all the information on the acquisition of goods and contracting of services, providing appropriate, clear and reliable information to suppliers, officials of the Institute, and the general public.

The Portal offers facilities such as the on-line transmission of tenders, the publication of newsletters and news items on processes concerning procurement, as well as connections to social networks, inter alia.

The MPSG is a form of on-site supervision of the quality and safety of the crèches exercised by parents themselves. It is transparent and rigorous, since it is based on a random selection process. The Mexican Branch of Transparency International validates the procedures and the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) implements recommendations for improvement.

Taking its beneficiary profile into account (48 per cent with computers and internet, 51.2 per cent with a high level of education - degree and post-graduate - and an aging population with a high demand concerning chronic degenerative diseases, the ISSSTE has responded to this situation with the development of an Internet-based electronic educational platform ("PrevenISSSTE close to you) which concentrates on health prevention and promotion to foster the empowerment of its beneficiaries.

The aim of this system, the Sistema de Mantenimiento a Equipo Médico [SMEM or Medical Equipment Maintenance System], is to make administrative management more efficient by maintaining centralised medical care equipment ready to carry out diagnoses and treatments.

The campaign involved three stages: the first was to alert the population to the risks associated with being overweight and obese; the second focused on emphasizing the consequences of failing to prevent the health problems deriving from excess weight and obesity; and the third focused on emphasizing the responsibility of the IMSS towards the health care of those it serves by providing quality services supported by investment in medical infrastructure and equipment to treat the various chronic and degenerative diseases associated with being overweight and obese.

Cervicouterine cancer is a priority health problem not only on account of its high incidence and severity, but also because it is preventable in nearly 100 per cent of cases.

For this reason the ISSSTE conducts prevention campaigns, such as the Papanicolaou stain survey which in 2011 reached 32 per cent of those covered in the White group between 25 and 69 years old.

This Programme was devised in November 2009, disclosed in the course of a national meeting involving delegates from all national Provinces and implemented in 2010; from then onwards, it operated on the basis of the registration and follow-up of beneficiaries via an on-line system.

This initiative has helped the Institute to cumulate budgetary savings of 268 million United States dollars (US$) and has had a direct impact on achieving 100 per cent of the objectives for various projects such as the improvement of the emergency services.

To address this aim, an application was designed for public administration to capture the perceptions of a representative sample of users of medical and crèche services, termed the Comprehensive User Satisfaction Measurement System, which involves the following:

The objective of this System is to provide workers who are contributing or have contributed to the IMSS with information on the number of weekly contributions per year and on contribution records for the five most recent employers through a more practical, efficient and rapid procedure. In addition to making use of the technological infrastructure, the practice involves savings in resources for both the Institute and the workers concerned.

The characteristics of this programme are:

In the framework of modernizing the process for the control of medical certificates, the Medical Directorate of the ISSSTE adopted a strategy to implement an automated system for the recording of medical certificates in order to ensure the availability of relevant, reliable and transparent information, with the aim of improving follow-up and assessment of behaviour in this respect and of associated variables: name of patient, date, number of days authorized, diagnosis justifying the certificate, unit and doctor issuing the certificate, etc.

In this sense and in addition to its responsibilities, it has developed an IT system on the web called 'Censo Único de Registro de Recursos Físicos, Materiales y Humanos (CRFMH)' [Single Census for Recording Physical, Material and Human Resources] in order to support planning and decision-making processes to improve the service for the rightsholder.

In view of the new challenges confronting the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS)), executives are developing nine competence areas: client care and service, change management, decision-making, associative management, the management of diversity, systematic and strategic thinking, effective communication, leadership and teamwork. These will provide the basis for the development of an organizational culture oriented towards competitiveness.