CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEDICAL SERVICES MARKET IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article substantiates the conceptual foundations for the development of the medical services market in Ukraine under conditions of systemic healthcare reform, decentralisation, war-related threats and intensification of European integration processes. It is shown that the transformation of the institutional environment, the introduction of a new financing model via the National Health Service of Ukraine, the destruction of medical infrastructure, changes in the demographic structure of the population and migration processes necessitate a reconsideration of theoretical approaches to the nature, structure and functioning mechanisms of the medical services market.

The purpose of the article is to develop a holistic concept for the development of the medical services market in Ukraine, taking into account national specificities, war-related risks and the country’s strategic course towards European integration.

The methodological basis of the study comprises systemic, institutional and comprehensive approaches. The research employs methods of analysis and synthesis, comparative and structural-logical analysis, generalisation of the findings of domestic and foreign scientific studies, as well as elements of statistical analysis to assess the dynamics and structural shifts in the medical services market.

Based on the results of the study, the content of the “medical services market” category is clarified as a multi-level open socio-economic system combining budgetary, insurance and private sources of funding, in which the state acts as the key purchaser, regulator and guarantor of basic medical services. The factors of market transformation in the conditions of war and post-war recovery are systematised; its structure is characterised in terms of supply and demand agents, types of medical services and levels of care provision. A conceptual model for the development of the medical services market is proposed, based on the principles of person-centredness, inclusiveness, resilience to crises and war-related threats, decentralisation while maintaining a single medical space, transparency, provider competition and digital integration.\

The scientific novelty of the results obtained lies in deepening the theoretical justification of the medical services market as a specific segment of a socially oriented economy and in developing the conceptual foundations for its development under war-time and post-war challenges.

The practical significance of the results consists in the possibility of using them to improve public policy in the field of healthcare, to support strategic planning of the post-war recovery of medical infrastructure, to advance mechanisms of public–private partnership and to enhance the efficiency of the functioning of the national medical services market.