ANALYSIS OF THE CONDITIONS, FACTORS AND TENDENCIES OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET OF MEDICAL SERVICES

Medical service is a process of interaction between a doctor and a patient in order to improve health outcomes. The quality of medical services is influenced by various factors: a lack of equipment in the preventive health care facilities, pharmaceutical products supply, coordination of appointments of the patients, etc.). Accordingly, there appears a tendency to increase the demands for provision of medical services. The social significance of healthcare services renders the process of their provision as the category of mandatory measures for governmental control and regulation in all countries, with the purpose to provide access for all strata of the population and maintain the appropriate quality level. Therefore, the standards of medical services have become the main line of activity for many specialized international organizations and governments (personnel requirements, medical products and medicines, regulation of medical insurance, etc.). In turn, standardization creates significant entry barriers in the market of medical services. The need of implementing international and national standards for the provision of medical services and their convergence are stipulated by the specificity of the healthcare sector. International medical service trade, implementation of telemedicine technologies and innovative methods of treatment, standardization of production and consumption of medical services are modern trends that lead to the formation of the international market for medical services. The provision of medical services to patients of other countries in more than 50 countries is defined as one of the main directions of national development. Since the cost factor is an important determinant of competitiveness, patients from countries with highly developed health care system go to developing countries where they receive medical services of good quality at lower prices. In light of the above, the article analyzes the stages of development of the medical service market depending on the level of economic development, preconditions for developing competitive advantages and the global factors that shape the trends of development of the international market of medical services.