OREANDA-NEWS. October 13, 2011. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) held a meeting of the Expert Council for Developing Competition in Social Sphere and Health Care to discuss the work of private clinics within the system of mandatory medical insurance and problems related to licensing medical services, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

Discussing the first item, representatives of pharmaceutical companies talked about the problems of participation of private medical institutions in the system of mandatory medical insurance, which prevent developing competition on the market of medical services and restrict the patients’ rights to chose doctors and medical institutions where they can be treated.

Members of the Expert Council suggested that FAS should tighten control over discrimination of private medical institutions under the programme of mandatory medical insurance, and jointly with Roszdravnadzor [the Federal Service for Supervision over Public Health and Social Development] and independent experts pay more attention to unlawful use of equipment and medical consumables in state and municipal medical institutions, when they are aimed for free medical services but are used to provide fee-based services.

On the issue of licensing medical services, the Expert Council summarized the findings of FAS survey and discussed positive and negative aspects of No.99-FZ Federal Law “On Licensing Certain Types of Activities”, which will come into force on 3rd November 2011. Sergey Misyulin, representing the “National Union of the Regional Associations of Private Health Care System” Non-Commercial Partnership, pointed out one of the positive aspects of the new law: “It gives a new definition of licenses (Article 3), which clearly states that license is a permission to exercise a certain type of activity, and a document issued by a licensing body is simply a confirmation of this permission”.

As a result of the discussion, it was decided that FAS and Roszdravnadzor, jointly with members of the Expert Council, should form a Working Group to devise proposals for the normative legal acts regulating licensing of medical activities, and draft new guidelines for the regional offices of FAS Russia and Roszdravnadzor regarding inspections of the licensing bodies.

Also it was decided that the Expert Council would held a special meeting devoted to the strategy of developing the health care system in Russia.