REFORM OF BUDGETARY INSTITUTIONS: THE VIEW OF PATIENTS AND DOCTORS

Abstract

The article presents the results of two sociological researches on the situation in health care, which were held at two-year intervals. In the first study, as respondents were managers of health institutions and residents of the regional centers. The management of medical institutions was asked about financial aspects of the work of their institutions and about reform-related risks. Medics associated major problems in healthcare and future risks with insufficient budget financing and low solvency of the population. This explains the skepticism of a substantial part of doctors regarding the achievement of the reform results. Residents of the cities were asked about the main reasons of adverse trends in the healthcare and about their willingness to pay for medical services in the event of a significant expansion of payment. The majority of citizens cited the lack of proper state control and lack of funds allocated by the state as the main determinant of the negative trends. The second study was the sounding of opinions of doctors and patients about the current trends in terms of accessibility and quality of care. It turned out that a number of negative forecasts made in 2012 by the heads of health institutions and ordinary citizens, is coming true. There is a marked increase of payment on the background of constant or decreasing quality of health services; the problem of shadow payments is not solved. The main cause of these phenomena is the further reduction of budget allocations in conditions of low effective demand from the population. Accordingly, the decisions aimed at improving the quality of life of the Russians, to be found in the area of corrections of budget priorities and implement of the effective incomes policy.