The foreign patient in Russian private clinic: historical forms of service adaptation and reputation strategies (1990–2010)

The article considers historical forms of adaptation of service of Russian private clinics to needs of foreign patients in 1990–2010. It is demonstrated that becoming of this direction occurred in conditions of post-Soviet transformation of health care, emergence of voluntary medical insurance, legalization of fee-for-service medicine, development of licensing of medical activities and gradual formation of private sector. The conclusion is made that in 1990–2010, Russian private clinics laid organizational and reputational prerequisites for subsequent development of inbound medical tourism, although market itself did not yet had stable institutional maturity and statistical transparency.