Our lawyer provides comments regarding areas and structure of premises that are used for medical practice

What does the term “medical office” include?

A medical office is a specially equipped room, which allows providing medical care.

Though, it’s not all that simple.

First of all, you need to obtain a medical license that permits to legally practice medicine.
Secondly, a medical office shall be equipped in compliance with the applicable legal requirements. Read more about the medical equipment of offices here.
Thirdly, there are requirements for the area and structure of the medical office premises, which will be discussed in this article.

How to choose a premise for the medical office?

One of the first critical steps a licensee should take to open a medical office or establish a healthcare facility is to find an appropriate premise. The Licensing regulations of medical practice do not provide for any specific requirements for the types of premises ownership. This means that one may practice medicine:

in the premise he/she owns;
as well as in the rental or subleased premise, etc.

Any type of premises ownership shall be confirmed by an appropriate certificate.

However, before signing a purchase or lease agreement, it would be useful to know if the structure and engineering equipment of that premise meets the Licensing requirements.

It is also worth noting that the list of the medical office requirements can be roughly divided into two groups: those that shall be applied both to individual entrepreneurs and legal entities, and those that are applied only to companies, enterprises and other legal entities.

General requirements for all medical premises

Non-residential premises only. Sometimes private medical offices can be opened in residential buildings. But in this case, the premises shall be withdrawn from the housing stock.
Premises shall be located on the first or second floor. Sometimes medical offices can be located on the ground or attic floor, but these are usually exceptions in special cases.
Medical facilities can be located both on the same premises and in different separate buildings. In the second case, all the information on the physical facilities of both premises shall be included in the required documents. The general public knows well that drugstores can be opened in healthcare facilities. But if you want to know more about medical practice in drugstores, click here.
Engineering equipment is a separate requirement for premises to be met. Thus, there shall be appropriate types of heat, light, water and air supply, sewerage.

See also: Equipment in medical rooms - will there be problems?

The requirements to the premises area are specified in the Building Code of Ukraine for healthcare facilities. For example, a dental room shall have a space area of not less than 14 square meters. At the same time, each next dental chair requires at least 10 squares meters according to the explanations of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Each facility is unique, find out all the "pitfalls" at the preliminary consultation

Special requirements for medical offices established only for legal entities or for a specific type of medical offices

1) Construction standards specify requirements for the number and intended purpose of medical offices. For example, ophthalmology centers or offices shall additionally have a “dark room”. By the way, our firm provides comprehensive advice on the compliance of the premises with the Building Code of Ukraine.

2) An office of the chief medical officer or the head of the healthcare facility. This is a mandatory requirement, so remember to leave at least 14-18 sq.m. for this office.

3) Operating rooms (small and big) can be equipped only in the structure of legal entities because surgical procedures that require long-term health care conditions shall be carried out only at healthcare facilities, which can be only legal entities.

4) Only legal entities can provide services related to:

Assisted reproductive technologies
Transplantation

These medical procedures require special separate rooms.

5) Obtainment of a sanitary-epidemiological conclusion for the medical office. The state sanitary control body may impose different requirements for the sanitary-epidemiological compliance of the premises. Now a local body of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection is responsible for this issue.

To learn more about the specific requirements for the area and number of rooms for different healthcare facilities, download the Building Code B.2.2-10-2001 “Healthcare Facilities”.

If you want to find out how our company can help you in the matter of choosing premises for medical activities, follow the link.