Health Care Law in Georgia — a Systemic Overview
The Georgian Law on Health Care is a systemic act regulating the relations between state authorities and natural and legal persons in the sphere of protecting citizens' health. This page brings together five pillar provisions of the law into a single picture: the law's subject, the principles of state policy, the governing body of the system, the mechanisms of state funding — including the voucher — and the status of a medical facility. Such an overview is especially useful when a particular issue — licensing, patients' rights, funding — needs to be understood in its systemic context.
Every conclusion below rests directly on the text of the law: no figure or requirement has been added beyond the law's content. Where the law entrusts details to another act — for example, the conditions of the voucher — this is stated as such.
The Law's Subject and the Principles of State Policy
The first provision defines the law's subject — relations between state authorities and natural and legal persons in the sphere of protecting citizens' health. It follows that private-sector participants — clinics, doctors, insurance organizations — fall within the law's scope whenever their activity concerns the protection of citizens' health.
The list of state-policy principles is broad and gives direction to the whole system: universal and equal accessibility of medical care for the population within the obligations envisaged by state medical programmes; protection of human rights and recognition of the patient's honour, dignity and autonomy; the independence of the physician and other medical personnel within the limits defined by legislation; the system's conformity with the country's economic development strategy; protection of patients placed in penitentiary institutions and of persons with diseases from discrimination in the provision of care; the establishment of universally recognized norms of medical ethics; full information of the population about all existing forms of care; cooperation with international health organizations; the state's responsibility for the volume and quality of services envisaged by the compulsory health insurance programme; the priority of primary health care, including emergency care, with the participation of state and private sectors and the development of the family-medicine and family-doctor institution; diversity of property and organizational-legal forms on equal terms; administrative sanctions for activities harmful to public health; programme-based funding of health care; funding of medical-biological research; and the participation of professional associations and NGOs in building a modern, effective system and in protecting patients' rights.
The Governing Body — The Ministry
State policy in the sphere of health care is carried out by the Ministry identified by the law, which develops and issues the respective legal acts on matters within its competence, unless legislation provides otherwise. This is why the central point for licences, permits, personnel lists and notification forms is this agency — the provisions discussed below direct the respective powers precisely to it.
State Funding and the Voucher
With state funding, medical services for a target group are provided under the Law on State Procurement or by means of a voucher, and personal insurance of the target group is carried out by means of a voucher. A service, insurance, the redemption of a voucher and related transactions are not a state procurement. The voucher is personalized; its owner may be a person or a circle of persons — a family, community or other — and a minor's rights under it are exercised in the manner established by legislation.
Under the voucher's conditions, its owner has the right of free choice of a medical service provider or an insurance organization; the transfer of an insurance voucher to an insurance organization is equated with the insurance contribution (premium) under the Civil Code. Identical vouchers give their owners services on equal terms, without any discrimination. The conditions of the voucher — issuance rules, the list of services, value, reimbursement procedures — are determined by law and/or a government decree.
The Medical Facility — the System's Basic Unit
A medical facility is a legal person of an organizational-legal form allowed by legislation carrying out medical activity in the prescribed manner. The law sets a financial threshold as well: the share of income from medical activity in the facility's financial resources must be at least 75%, and at least 75% of the average annual value of fixed assets must be earmarked for medical functions. Income from services and other economic activity remains with the facility, and the remuneration fund must constitute at least 30% of the income.
The functions of facilities include determining the patient's state of health, prophylaxis and treatment of diseases, rehabilitation, palliative care, obstetric and pharmaceutical activity, pathologico-anatomical examination, forensic medical examination and epidemiological control measures. A facility must observe the standards of medical and pharmaceutical activity and ensure equal accessibility for persons with disabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Law on Health Care regulate?
Relations between state authorities and natural and legal persons in the sphere of protecting citizens' health — from principles to the status of facilities.
Who governs the system?
The ministry identified by the law, which issues legal acts on matters within its competence.
How are target-group services funded?
Under the Law on State Procurement or by means of a voucher; personal insurance for the target group is carried out by voucher.
What is a voucher?
A personalized instrument whose owner — a person or circle of persons — has the free choice of provider or insurance organization; identical vouchers guarantee services on equal terms, without discrimination.
What share must be medical in a facility's resources?
At least 75% in both income and fixed assets; the remuneration fund at least 30% of income.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The Legal.ge team works across the entire spectrum of health-care law: interpreting systemic regulations, handling relations involving state programmes and vouchers, ensuring facility compliance and protecting patients' rights. Contact us for an assessment of your situation grounded in the law's specific provisions.