STRUCTURE AND SUBJECT AREA OF BUSINESS ETHICS IN HEALTHCARE

Business ethics application in the field of healthcare is a relatively new problem. A paradigm shift from medical to business ethics is becoming a call of modernity, given the economic challenges and financial imperatives that test medical profession morale and healthcare institution activities. The appropriate prerequisites for establishment of business ethics in healthcare, related to restructuring and amendments to health aid funding, the establishment of a public-private mix health system, the new physician status as an independent (or professionally committed) market subject, escalation of health sector costs, prices of health services and medicines, the rapid development of pharmaceutical industry have been discussed. The structure of business ethics in healthcare and its sections - managerial, organizational, inter-organizational, and trade (commercial) business ethics have been presented. The need for an ethical framework that combines competing ethical values among all stakeholders - healthcare specialists, medical institutions, health insurance funds, patients, and society – has been emphasized. The codes of business ethics and the standards set out in them determine ethical limits to ensure high results and integrity in health service market. Healthcare is a humanitarian field which activity is based on leading values such as ethics and professionalism. In the context of increasing commercialization, the question whether medical profession and healthcare provision will retain their moral vocation remains open