Regional Healthcare System at the Current Stage of Development: Concept and Problems

The article considers various approaches to the characterisation of the regional healthcare system in modern Russian society. It shows that the attempts to reform public health using the experience of Western countries have led to the complication of the regional healthcare system and the change in the ideas about primary healthcare, as well as the concentration of most requests for medical aid at the regional level. The authors believe that an effectively organised regional healthcare system is capable of ensuring clear coordination of efforts at various levels of medical aid and creating the necessary conditions for efficient interaction between its components, which, from a comprehensive perspective, is reflected in the quality and accessibility of medical care in the region. The author notes that neither the scientific community nor the legislative acts have formed any sustainable ideas about the peculiarities of regional healthcare, its structure and functions. This complicates the analysis of the existing problem areas and the identification of failed and proven practices of medical aid. The article presents a detailed description of the peculiarities of the regional healthcare system and its three-level organisation. Special attention is paid to the relevant problems of its structure and functioning. The analysis of these problems highlights the improper organisation of the internal structure of the regional healthcare system, resulting in insufficient attention to the real needs of the population, low compliance with people’s expectations regarding the service quality, and weak interdepartmental collaboration. The authors point out the importance of studying inter-level interactions within regional healthcare, shifting the focus of attention to the lower level of the system in the context of ongoing modernization measures. The authors emphasise the need to set apart the primary level of regional healthcare as a special structural level requiring a special comprehensive study.