Ongoing hospital compliance in Georgia rests on a single statute: the Georgian Law on Medical Practice, under which state supervision of medical practice is exercised by the ministry through the council (Article 66), and both forms of supervision — quality control of medical services and control of the production of medical documentation — are precisely regulated (Article 67). International accreditation frameworks embody noble quality ideals but are foreign to the Georgian system: in Georgia the measure of compliance is exactly this law's articles, not an imported standard's certificate.
The Supervisory Authority and the Forms of Supervision
Article 66 defines two levels: state supervision of medical practice is exercised by the ministry through the council, and the ministry ensures the active participation of university clinics, physicians' professional associations and other public organizations in that supervision. Article 67 then fixes the forms of supervision: quality control of medical services and control of the production of medical documentation. These are the two directions on which a hospital's internal compliance system must be built — everything else in a compliance programme serves one of them.
Periodic Inspection and the Participation Guarantee
Article 68 regulates the mechanics of inspection: the ministry periodically — at least once a year — selectively controls the quality of medical services produced by a subject of independent medical practice and the medical documentation. At every stage of preparing and reviewing the document reflecting the inspection results, the participation of the subject whose activity was inspected is mandatory, and the subject may, at its own discretion, attach to that document an explanatory note reflecting its attitude toward the remarks given in the document. This participation guarantee is a procedural right of the hospital: a remark is never simply left with it. The consequences of refusal are also statutory: where the subject refuses quality and documentation control, or an assessment of its health for determining professional fitness, the council has the right, in accordance with the requirements established by the law, to suspend the state certificate (Article 71).
The Documentation Standard
The second form of control — medical documentation — carries its own list of norms in Article 56: the subject is obliged to produce medical records for every patient in the manner established by legislation; the records must be kept in the state language, clearly and understandably, with a foreign specialist's entry translated; they must be complete — every part (the patient's personal, social, medical and other data) fully completed; information must be recorded in a timely manner and within defined periods; the records must adequately reflect every detail connected with the medical service; and every new part must be certified with a clear signature. Compliance with the existing storage rules and disclosure to a third person only in the cases provided by the law are likewise established by this article. For a hospital, this list is the daily working standard against which both internal audits and ministry inspections are measured.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the questions most frequently asked about hospital compliance.
Who supervises medical practice?
The ministry — through the council, with the participation of university clinics, professional associations and public organizations (Article 66).
How frequent are inspections?
Periodic — at least once a year, selectively (Article 68). The method is selective, so no inspection can be scheduled in advance — readiness must be constant.
What follows a refusal of control?
The council may suspend the state certificate in accordance with the law's requirements (Article 71).
What are the requirements for medical records?
State language, clarity, completeness, timely recording, adequacy and certification by signature — for every patient (Article 56). Records must be kept in the state language, clearly and comprehensibly, and the entry of a foreign specialist must be translated into the state language.
Building the Internal Compliance System
These four articles sketch the architecture of a hospital's internal system themselves: the first block — quality control — calls for internal rules that make the selective annual inspection predictable and keep the quality of every service documented; the second block — documentation — rests on the six requirements of Article 56 and demands daily discipline: language, completeness, deadlines, adequacy, signature, storage. The third block is the relationship with supervision — the participation right and the explanatory-note mechanism. And the fourth is the management of refusal risks, because suspension of the certificate removes the foundation of the subject's entire activity. An internal compliance system built in advance turns each of these duties from a risk into a routine.
May a position be stated on the results of an inspection?
Yes — the subject has the right to attach to the document reflecting the results of the inspection an explanatory card setting out its attitude toward the remarks.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The Legal.ge team builds hospital compliance on both forms of supervision: we prepare the internal quality-control and documentation systems under Articles 66–68, verify records against the norms of Article 56, and represent you at the inspection and explanatory-note stages. Contact Legal.ge — compliance must be written in the language of Georgian law.