Institutional and economic problems of healthcare in Russia

In this article, the author tried to consider the history of institutional, primarily legislative, changes in the Russian healthcare system from an economic point of view. The methodology of the study was to identify the impact of the transformation of institutions on the financial situation of the industry, and ultimately on its material, technical and human resources base in the period leading up to the mobilization to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussion issues of social policy in General in close connection with the economy, as well as the topics of financing health care “on a residual basis”, “optimization” and other concepts were considered. Based on the analysis of the content of legislative acts, decrees, national projects and programs, a hypothesis was developed about the institutional predisposition to an insufficient level of development of health care in General, including its “infectious” block, to the extreme situation in 2020. State statistics were presented on the reduction in the number of medical institutions, hospital beds (including for the treatment of infectious diseases), the number of doctors and secondary medical personnel in recent decades. Separately, the problems of salaries of health care workers were considered in two aspects: first, in the context of non-implementation of state decisions on its increase, and second, in terms of its negative impact on the number of employees in the industry, their work efficiency, and on the employment processes of young professionals after graduation from specialized educational institutions.