Public-Private Partnerships in Russian Healthcare: infrastructure-Based, Service-Provision and Concession Models Comparison

In the last decades, governments all over the world are increasingly turning to private-public partnerships, which allow boosting access to high-standard healthcare by leveraging private sector finance and expertise. This practice has a number of advantages over traditional procurement forms: being correctly implemented, PPPs allow for more efficient costs and risk sharing as well as more effective and timely service provision. At the same time, the success of PPP implementation in healthcare depends on a number of factors such as whether partners are able to ensure sufficient transparency, or whether a contract sets relevant performance indicators. The practice of using medical PPPs is new for Russia. However, it can be seen as an effective mechanism to mitigate or overcome the scope of challenges that the Russian health care system currently faces. The thesis examines the Russian experience in the implementation of three models of medical PPP: infrastructure-based, service-provision, and mixed ones. After analyzing the cases, the author identifies the factors that facilitate and hinder the implementation of health-oriented PPPs in Russia. At the end of the paper, policy recommendations are formulated.