You're reading: Health Ministry proposes to create the national agency for medical services

Ukraine's Health Ministry has published a draft concept on healthcare system reform. The document envisages the creation of a national agency to finance healthcare as a single national contractor for medical services and to introduce the government-guaranteed medical service package.

According to the document posted on the ministry’s website, the government-guaranteed medical service package is given to all citizens of Ukraine and includes primary medical care, emergency medical services (including inpatient services), key forms of outpatient services prescribed by general practitioners and key types of planned inpatient medical services prescribed by general practitioners or medical specialists.

The package will also include medicines, key pharmaceutical products used for inpatient service and medicines prescribed by general practitioners. Outpatient medical specialists will be of top priority.

Medicine provision will be based on the reimbursement scheme and medicines will be supplied by companies of all forms of ownership via the single national contractor.

The financing of the government-guaranteed medical service package will be annually approved by parliament.

According to the document, medical services not included in the package will be paid in full or partially by patients. They include services provided by medical specialists without appointment cards, some types of diagnostic or treatment services and medicines. Citizens with benefits determined by the Health Ministry and Social Policy Ministry will be exempted from paying for the services not included in the government-guaranteed package.

The agency will be an independent organization that acts in the interest of patients and will buy medical services using single basic tariffs. The agency will be managed by the Health Ministry and will have regional divisions.

According to the concept, owners of the majority of medical institutions are local councils, and the state will be responsible for the provision of enough funds to pay for the government-guaranteed medical service package. The funds will be distributed via the national agency.

Communities will be offered a mechanism for independent supervision over the quality of medical services.