Medical equipment leasing in Russia

2025: Supreme Court ban on the use of medical equipment in compulsory medical insurance leasing for paid services

On September 5, 2025, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation confirmed the ban on the use of medical equipment leased for compulsory health insurance (compulsory medical insurance) for paid services. This was reported by "Garant" with reference to the decision of the Supreme Court, which put an end to the trial of the Moscow City Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund (MGFOMS) with LLC "Network of Family Medical Centers."

As a result of the audit of the network of medical centers, MGFOMS identified a number of financial violations:

1. Misuse of budget funds: medical equipment purchased on lease at the expense of compulsory medical insurance was used to provide paid services, which is legally prohibited; control authorities were not provided with access to individual devices involved in commercial activities, and the necessary documentation for accounting for equipment operation was not available.
2. Acquisition of non-core assets: at the expense of compulsory medical insurance, a server platform was acquired that is not included in the list of mandatory medical equipment and does not meet the established standards for equipping workplaces.
3. Financing the repair of non-core facilities: compulsory medical insurance funds were used to overhaul the cultural heritage site, which houses one of the clinics, although such funding is not provided for by law.

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Фото: Freepik

Based on the revealed violations, more than 11 million rubles were collected from the Network of Family Medical Centers LLC in favor of MGFOMS, a fine of 1.1 million rubles for the use of compulsory medical insurance funds for other purposes, as well as a penalty exceeding 1 million rubles as of August 2024.

Medvestnik, referring to the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund, believes that this court decision confirms the legality of restrictions on the use of assets acquired on lease at the expense of compulsory medical insurance, exclusively within the framework of the state guarantee program. According to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, this practice contributes to increasing the efficiency of spending budget funds and prevents possible financial abuses.^[1]

2022: For 3 years, state-owned clinics in Russia spent 3.3 billion rubles on leasing medical equipment

In the period from 2020 to 2022, state medical organizations in Russia spent approximately 3.3 billion rubles on leasing medical equipment. Such data are given in the opinion of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation published on July 3, 2023 on the report on the implementation of the budget of the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (Compulsory Medical Insurance) for 2022.

The document says that the leasing mechanism contributes to the expansion of the range of diagnostic and treatment services provided by clinics. In addition, medical institutions are able to conduct surgical operations in a timely manner. In general, this has a positive effect on the quality and availability of medical care.

Medical organizations spent approximately 3.3 billion rubles on leasing medical equipment

At the same time, in December 2022, changes were made to the rules of compulsory health insurance, defining restrictions on the amount of costs for renting medical equipment at the expense of compulsory medical insurance. In particular, the amount of payment should not exceed 1 million rubles per year for one leasing object, and if a medical organization has overdue accounts payable for three months, the costs cannot be more than 100 thousand rubles.

It is said that these rules created the conditions for "the actual cessation of the use of the leasing mechanism by medical organizations as a tool to increase the efficiency of medical care through the use of high-tech medical equipment." This is due to the presence of payables in medical organizations, as well as a decrease in economic attractiveness for lessors, since a decrease in the amount of payments entails an increase in the terms of financial lease of equipment.

The current situation has led to the fact that auctions for leasing medical equipment, including for emergency hospitals and city hospitals, have been canceled in seven regions of the Russian Federation. These subjects included Dagestan, Buryatia, Khakassia, Primorsky Territory, Tomsk Region, Belgorod Region and Irkutsk Region.^[2]

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