Picture of the day: digest of the main news from August 22, 2025

Main

#1 The Accounts Chamber has identified a number of problems in the implementation of the healthcare budget for 2024. The Ministry of Health has accumulated almost 9 billion rubles in unused subsidies for the implementation of the state assignment, and out of 23 capital construction projects, only nine have been commissioned, while the ministry and subordinate institutions have another 126 unfinished construction projects on their balance sheets. Equipment worth 78 million rubles is idle at the A.N. Bakulev National Medical Research Center for Cardiovascular Surgery, Rospotrebnadzor has not returned more than 500 million rubles in advance to the budget, and Roszdravnadzor paid for the repair of a building with the status of a cultural heritage site to an unlicensed contractor and did not apply sanctions for breach of contract.

#2 The Russian Ministry of Health has developed criteria for including private clinics in the compulsory medical insurance territorial program - a draft thematic resolution is currently undergoing public discussion. The regulator mainly intends to filter out medical organizations with insufficient work experience, violations in the compulsory medical insurance sphere in the last two years, as well as clinics providing services, the need for which is already covered by the state network of medical organizations. The document should come into force on March 1, 2026 - in this case, next year, private individuals will be able to apply for compulsory medical insurance volumes under the current simplified rules.

Assignments

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to work on the issue of sending civilian doctors to hospitals in the SVO zone without signing a long-term contract. In July, participants in the exhibition of projects of the public movement "People's Front "For Russia" approached Putin with this initiative. At the moment, doctors are sent on missions without signing a contract only to civilian hospitals located in the rear. In order for doctors to work in military hospitals near the line of combat contact, it is necessary to sign long-term contracts.

Organization of medical care

The Russian Ministry of Health has amended the Procedure for Determining the Severity of Harm Caused to Human Health, approved by Order No. 172n dated April 8, 2025. The amendments affect the criteria for determining the outcome of harm caused to human health, as well as the table of percentages of permanent loss of general working capacity as a result of injuries, poisoning and exposure to external causes. Thus, if, as a result of harm caused, a person experiences loss of vision, speech, hearing, any organ (loss of its functions), termination of pregnancy, mental disorder, drug addiction/toxicomania or permanent disfigurement of the face, then the severity will be determined in accordance with the established characteristics. The updated document will come into force on September 1, 2025 and will be valid until the same date in 2031.

Compulsory medical insurance system

The Russian Ministry of Health continued to update regulations governing the activities of participants in the compulsory medical insurance system. After reissuing the standard contract for the work of medical insurance organizations (MMO), the contract for payment of medical care in medical organizations was also republished - a tripartite agreement between the clinic, the TFOMS and the MMO. Many of the proposed changes, compared to the 2021 version, are technical in nature and are dictated by the updated No. 326-FZ "On Compulsory Medical Insurance". Also, despite the announcement by the Ministry of a new option for clinics - restructuring of debts on sanctions and fines from supervisory authorities - this provision was not included in the finished version of the standard contract.

Investments

The manufacturer and distributor of reagents for pharmaceuticals, laboratory diagnostics and microelectronics, Khimmed, has begun preparing for an IPO on the St. Petersburg Exchange. According to RBC, the Moscow Venture Fund, owned by the city authorities, issued Khimmed a targeted loan to organize the initial public offering, the amount of which could have been up to 100 million rubles. In August 2025, Khimmed first disclosed its IFRS financial statements for 2022–2024: according to the results of last year, the company earned 6.343 billion rubles and showed a net profit of 375.2 million rubles.

Pharmaceutical business

The company "ECOlab" launched a new production site in Elektrogorsk, Moscow Region, having invested almost 500 million rubles in the project. The sixth workshop of the enterprise will double the production of medicines and medical products, including drugs from the list of vital and essential drugs, and will also create more than 50 jobs.

Criminal cases

The Basmanny District Court of Moscow has sent the former Minister of Health of the Khabarovsk Territory, Yuri Boychenko, to pretrial detention. The investigation accuses the former official of Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (embezzlement or misappropriation on an especially large scale) for concluding government contracts for the supply of medical equipment at an inflated price. TASS sources report that the former head of the Ministry of Health is considered involved in the theft of over 100 million rubles. It is known that the arrest of Yuri Boychenko may be connected with the investigation of the case against the former Deputy Chairman of the Khabarovsk Territory Government for Social Issues, Yevgeny Nikonov.

Infrastructure

The construction of the Kamchatka Regional Hospital is fully completed . This was reported by Vladimir Solodov, Governor of the Kamchatka Territory. The facility is being licensed, after which the staff will move in and the first patients will be admitted. The medical facility is scheduled to be fully commissioned in September of this year. The complex was considered a long-term construction project; work on its construction began in 2011. Federal authorities have repeatedly allocated large tranches for the implementation of the project, the final cost of which exceeded 13.7 billion rubles. According to Solodov, with the opening of the hospital, residents will receive high-tech medical care without leaving the region. About 700 units of medical equipment have been purchased and installed for the facility.

New data

A new study in JAMA Network Open has shown that family social conditions directly affect the risk of developing an eating disorder (ED) in adolescents. Scientists used data from 7,824 participants in the British ALSPAC project, who were observed for almost 30 years. The education factor was especially noticeable: adolescents whose parents only graduated from high school had an almost 80% higher risk of developing an ED than their peers from families with higher education. The authors emphasize that poverty and social instability create the basis for anxiety and dissatisfaction with the body, which ultimately increases the likelihood of developing an eating disorder.

Other news:

Medical information system SQNS integrated into new messenger Max

Rostec intends to protect large clinics from drones using electronic warfare

J&J Announces Another $2 Billion Investment to Expand U.S. Presence

World's first smartphone test to detect risk of type 2 diabetes launched in UK