Browsing by Author "Eliava, Ekaterine"
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Item The Gatekeeper Model: patient’s view on the role of the family physician(Family Medicine & Primary Care Review, 2020) Verulava, Tengiz; Dangadze, Beka; Jorbenadze, Revaz; Lordkipanidze, Ana; Karimi, Leila; Eliava, Ekaterine; Maglakelidze, TamarBackground. An adequate primary healthcare system substantially determines quality of population health and effective spending of healthcare resources. The family physician serving as a ‘gatekeeper’ can make judicious decisions about the appropriate use of medical services. Objectives. The goal of this study was to find out patients’ characteristics, preferences and behavior in regards to the role of the family physician as the gatekeeper in The Republic of Georgia. Materials and Methods. As part of a cross-sectional quantitative study, respondents were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Results. Majority of the respondents (53.7%, n=245) had a permanent family physician, but were not satisfied with a level of family physician’s professionalism (56.6%, n=258) and preferred self-referral to specialists (55%, n=253). Only 19.5% (n=89) referred to specialists upon family physician’s advice who would coordinate all services and 23% (n=103) have used both family physicians and self-referral. Private health insurance companies were more interested in implementing cost reducing mechanisms rather than the Social Service Agency (which is responsible for Universal Health Care Program). Conclusions. It is appropriate to share private health insurance experiences for developing a model of gatekeeper in the UHCP. In order to improve a family physician institute and increase confidence in it, it is recommended to raise the level of family physicians’ skills of relations with patients as it has a significant effect on the patient preferences. It is advisable to develop a flexible and voluntary gatekeeper model which will better suit the needs of both patients and physicians.Item Obstacles in the Development of Nonprofit Hospitals in Georgia(Taylor & Francis Group, 2019) Verulava, Tengiz; Lordkipanidze, Ana; Besiashvili, Nino; Todria, Mirian; Lobjanidze, Zviad; Jorbenadze, Revaz; Eliava, EkaterineThe most common form of ownership of medical establishments worldwide is a nonprofit organization. In contrast, the number of nonprofit medical institutions in Georgia is very scarce, while private profit organizations hold about 90% of the medical market. The goal of the research is to study the factors that affect the development of nonprofit hospitals in Georgia. Since there are very few nonprofit medial institutions in Georgia, we hypothesize that there is not enough motivation for functioning of such institutions. For the purposes of this research, six in-depth interviews were conducted with managers and experts of nonprofit organizations. As the research demonstrated, there is no sufficient motivation for functioning of the nonprofit form of medical organizations. Although the Tax Code provides tax benefits, they exist only in a token way and do not support the development of nonprofit medical organizations. It is necessary to improve the tax benefits provided for nonprofit hospitals in the Tax Code and share the world experience in order to increase number of nonprofit organizations in Georgia. It is recommended for Government to give more support to nonprofit organizations, in order to increase their functioning efficiency and bring incentive for development of new nonprofit medical institutions.