On 5 February 2016 the meeting of the Kharkiv Expert Group in Health Care Reform took place.

Tetyana Gavrysh, head of the Supervisory Board of Change Agency Perspectives, presented the results of her meeting with representatives of the National Reforms Council on Health Care reform. Mrs. Gavrysh stressed that the reform of primary health care is a priority in 2016; and legislative conditions will be created as well resources provided to implement a new model of family medicine throughout the country. Therefore, the project in Kharkiv region will be at the forefront of reform of family medicine in the country.

Currently, the key obstacle to declared reform in health care is outdated legislation. Thus, a long discussion by the group exposed differences in the interpretation of the concepts of "medical service" and "medical aid", "establishment" and "enterprise." For the average citizen, these concepts are synonymous, but for lawyers working in the field of health care reform they are a source of constant headache, as all government agencies, providing medical assistance, are “establishments” devoid of any autonomy and ability to make decisions. Without a change in legislation real transformation towards autonomy of health care in Ukraine is impossible. Lawyers of ILF law firm are working on several pieces of legislation to help resolve the issue for Reanimation Package of Reforms.

The Group has continued to work on the plan for a pilot project and discussed the issues related to a visit by the Expert Group representatives to Chuhuiv (town in Kharkiv oblast) to study the transformation of primary health care. The next Expert Group meeting will be held on February 12th. It was decided to discuss pre-project audit of primary health care system.