A childbirth certificate is used to pay for the services of an antenatal clinic, medical care during childbirth and the postpartum period, as well as for preventive checkups for children under 12 months. 1.1 million women in total used those services last year.
A pregnant woman who has received a certificate can choose the clinic where she will be monitored and give birth. The certificate itself can be issued at any stage of pregnancy, including during a visit to an antenatal clinic or directly at the maternity hospital.
The antenatal clinic assigned to the future mother submits the necessary records to the Social Fund, while the maternity hospital notifies the Fund once the childbirth occurs. Based on this data, the Fund pays the healthcare institutions for the services they have provided. A children's polyclinic where the child undergoes checkups can also issue a certificate, provided the child is registered there within the first three months of their life.
Worth noting that a childbirth certificate is issued to the woman, not to her child, so even if multiple children are born at once, the mother gets a single certificate. Since the start of the year, the Social Fund has financed medical support services for 1.1 million newborns.
Remember that the Childbirth Certificate program is part of the Health national project and has been in effect in Russia since 2006. Previously, women had to present the paper copy of the certificate to healthcare institutions in person. Now this is no longer required, as the Social Fund receives all the required data automatically. Switching childbirth certificates into digital form has significantly simplified paperwork for healthcare workers and eliminated the need for women to present their certificates in person.