[EXPERT ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF REGIONAL HEALTHCARE: DEFICIENCIES AND GROWTH POINTS]

The quality of healthcare is a complex, interdisciplinary category. Current approaches to assessing quality of life are typically based on statistical data, medical statistics, and subjective assessments obtained through mass population surveys. Using expert surveys as a method not only for assessment but also for a deeper professional understanding of processes occurring in the healthcare system, predicting their consequences, and identifying the causes of changes in public opinion appears most appropriate, particularly for regional healthcare systems. Experts from regional communities are most immersed in issues related to their local context. The research methodology was based on the «structure, process, result» (Donabedian) approach and included a survey of experts from regional professional communities in the regional capital of the Kursk border region (n = 40). The experts included representatives from healthcare management, business, science and education, medical professionals, opinion leaders, and political scientists. The results of the expert survey revealed contradictions in regional healthcare management, which are exacerbated by a significant outflow of professional personnel.