Digital transformation meets the requirements of social welfare

ABO/NDO- The report on national digital transformation in 2024 by the Ministry of Information and Communications reveals that Vietnam has climbed to 71st place out of 193 countries in the United Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI) rankings published in September 2024, up 15 positions compared to 2022.

This is the first time Vietnam has been classified among countries with a "very high" EGDI. This achievement was partly attributed to the significant contributions of Vietnam Social Security (VSS) in digital transformation efforts to ensure social welfare.

Looking ahead, the VSS aims to continue its effective and breakthrough digital transformation, meeting national social security demands and contributing to Vietnam’s successful digital revolution in the new era.
The 2024 digital transformation performance report highlights that the VSS has been actively developing its information technology system, making it one of the leading agencies in building the digital government.

Regarding digital infrastructure, the VSS currently operates a centralised data centre, where all application software systems and data are managed and operated in a unified manner.

Regarding digital infrastructure, the VSS currently operates a centralised data centre, where all application software systems and data are managed and operated in a unified manner.

The VSS has implemented 29 application systems to support its operations, ensuring that 100% of the sector's tasks are carried out through software applications. Additionally, it has established connections with over 13,000 healthcare facilities nationwide to receive data for health insurance reimbursement requests and facilitated electronic transactions for more than 621,000 businesses via its online portal.

The VSS continues to maintain and develop the VssID – Digital Social Insurance application, which provides public services, ensures transparency in social insurance and health insurance contributions and benefits, and allows users to access key information. Since June 1, 2021, the app has enabled the use of digital health insurance card images for medical check-ups and treatment across the country, along with various other features and utilities.

To date, more than 37 million personal electronic transaction accounts have been approved nationwide for logging into and using the VssID application, with over 23.5 million accounts actively utilising the platform.
The VSS has partnered with Viettel to pilot the integration of a Virtual Assistant into its Customer Care Hotline (1900.9068) to assist users in resetting VssID account passwords. Additionally, it has collaborated with the Ministry of Public Security to enable login to the VssID app and the VSS Public Service Portal using VNeID accounts. To date, over 19.1 million logins have been recorded via electronic identification accounts on these platforms.

To accelerate digital transformation and encourage the public to use digital signatures for administrative procedures online, the VSS has become a pioneering government agency, integrating remote signing into the Health Insurance Claim Information System and the VSS Public Service Portal.

With remote signing, users no longer need a USB token as with traditional digital signatures; instead, they can use smartphones or tablets to sign documents anytime, anywhere.

Regarding digital data, the VSS continues to collaborate with ministries, sectors, and local authorities to integrate and share data between the national insurance database and other national and specialised databases. Notably, it has been working with the Ministry of Public Security to connect, authenticate, and synchronise social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance information with the National Population Database.

To date, the VSS system has verified over 99.8 million citizen records in its database against the National Population Database. Among them, more than 89.6 million people are actively participating in or benefiting from social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance, accounting for 99% of all participants. Additionally, the VSS has collaborated with the Government Office to integrate its data into the National Reporting Information System. According to statistics from the National Public Service Portal, the VSS ranks third among ministries and sectors, with a score of 80.37 points.

In terms of digital public services, the VSS currently offers 70 fully online public services across multiple platforms. It has integrated 66 of these services into the National Public Service Portal, representing 94.3% of its total fully online services — exceeding the target set by the prime minister's Directive No.04/CT-TTg (dated February 11, 2024) by 14.3%.

In 2024 alone, the VSS has received and processed over 13 million electronic transaction records, equivalent to 85.4 million records linked to individual workers, accounting for 76.5% of all processed records.

The VSS has also achieved significant digital transformation milestones. Notably, it has fully implemented the use of chip-based citizen ID cards for health insurance medical services. As a result, 100% of health insurance medical facilities now accept chip-based ID cards for identity verification, with over 163.9 million successful queries conducted to facilitate medical procedures.

In promoting cashless payments for social security benefits, the proportion of beneficiaries receiving payments via personal bank accounts in urban areas reached approximately 80% by the end of 2024 — 20% higher than the target set by the prime minister's Decision No. 1813/QD-TTg. The nationwide rate of monthly social insurance benefits disbursed through personal accounts has seen remarkable growth, rising from 40% in March 2024 (when the VSS and the Ministry of Public Security initiated coordination) to 77.7% as of December 30, 2024. Some provinces have achieved exceptionally high rates, including Ha Nam (99.99%), Ha Tinh (99.5%), Hanoi (99.2%), Hai Phong (98.6%), and Hung Yen (97.1%).

In 2025, the VSS will continue refining its E-Government Architecture Framework (version 3.0), advancing toward a fully digital government. The agency will further enhance the National Insurance Database, expand data-sharing with authorised organisations and individuals, and focus on integrating data with the implementation of the 2023 Citizen Identification Law. Additionally, the VSS will collaborate with ministries, agencies, and local administrations to successfully execute tasks under Project No.06 while ensuring progress and quality. It will also align with the National Data Centre’s roadmap to migrate its infrastructure to the shared platform of the National Data Centre as per regulations.

(Source: NDO)