Biomaterial Database

Perestroika and health care in the USSR: innovations in state financing. 1991

L D Weiss, and S A Theno

The budget of the USSR Ministry of Health has steadily been shrinking during the period 1960-1985 as a proportion of the standard measure of national productivity. In the age of perestroika, however, the Ministry of Health and various units within it have instituted a number of innovative attempts to increase available funds and resources on one hand, and make facilities operate more efficiently on the other. Some of these strategies include the expansion of pay polyclinics and hospitals, the institution of self-financing and cost accounting procedures, the initiation of health insurance forms of reimbursement, more control over the budget at lower levels, and the geographical reorganization of health care facilities. There are concerns about the effectiveness of these innovations, and the issue of quality of care. It is not clear which if any of these innovations will achieve the desired goals.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011332	Privatization	Process of shifting publicly controlled services and/or facilities to the private sector.	Privatizations
D005102	Health Expenditures	The amounts spent by individuals, groups, nations, or private or public organizations for total health care and/or its various components. These amounts may or may not be equivalent to the actual costs (HEALTH CARE COSTS) and may or may not be shared among the patient, insurers, and/or employers.	Expenditure,Expenditures, Health,Health Expenditure,Out Of Pocket Expenditure,Out-of-Pocket Cost,Out-of-Pocket Expense,Out-of-Pocket Payment,Expenditures,Expenditures, Direct,Expenditures, Indirect,Expenditures, Out-of-Pocket,Out-of Pocket Expenditures,Out-of-Pocket Costs,Out-of-Pocket Expenses,Out-of-Pocket Payments,Out-of-Pocket Spending,Cost, Out-of-Pocket,Costs, Out-of-Pocket,Direct Expenditure,Direct Expenditures,Expenditure, Direct,Expenditure, Health,Expenditure, Indirect,Expenditure, Out-of Pocket,Expenditure, Out-of-Pocket,Expenditures, Out of Pocket,Expenditures, Out-of Pocket,Expense, Out-of-Pocket,Expenses, Out-of-Pocket,Indirect Expenditure,Indirect Expenditures,Out of Pocket Cost,Out of Pocket Costs,Out of Pocket Expenditures,Out of Pocket Expense,Out of Pocket Expenses,Out of Pocket Payment,Out of Pocket Payments,Out of Pocket Spending,Out-of Pocket Expenditure,Out-of-Pocket Expenditure,Out-of-Pocket Expenditures,Payment, Out-of-Pocket,Payments, Out-of-Pocket,Spending, Out-of-Pocket
D006291	Health Policy	Decisions, usually developed by government policymakers, for determining present and future objectives pertaining to the health care system.	Health Care Policies,Health Policies,Healthcare Policy,National Health Policy,Care Policies, Health,Health Care Policy,Health Policy, National,Healthcare Policies,National Health Policies,Policies, Health,Policies, Health Care,Policies, Healthcare,Policy, Health,Policy, Health Care,Policy, Healthcare
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D013222	State Medicine	A system of medical care regulated, controlled and financed by the government, in which the government assumes responsibility for the health needs of the population.	National Health Service, British,Socialized Medicine,British Health Service, National,British National Health Service,Medicine, Socialized,Medicine, State,Service, British National Health
D014586	USSR	A country located from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and, for a time including 15 Soviet Socialist Republics. The capital was Moscow.	Soviet Union,Union of Soviet Socialist Republics