The problem of ensuring the quality and safety of medical care in Russian healthcare is being solved both at the institutional and practical levels, for which the Russian Ministry of Health has developed special requirements for organizing and conducting internal control of quality and safety indicators. At the same time, statistics show that the life expectancy of the population in Russia is declining, which is due, on the one hand, to the negative consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic, and, on the other hand, to the accumulated problems in ensuring the quality and safety of medical care at the level of medical organizations. This requires the improvement of approaches to the organization and conduct of internal control of these indicators. The purpose of the study: to present an express assessment of the quality and safety of medical care to the population in Russia in terms of the dynamics of life expectancy and criminal cases against medical workers who failed to ensure the high quality and safety of care provided to patients in the performance of their professional duties. Suggest approaches to improve the organization and conduct of internal control of the quality and safety of medical care in medical organizations. Materials and methods. When presenting the materials of the article, methods of statistical analysis of public data on the dynamics of life expectancy and on the dynamics of initiating criminal cases against medical workers were used. These data were used as the basis for the study of the hypothesis about the impact of the quality and safety of medical care on the life expectancy of the population. Also, the methods of content analysis of legal acts and methods of scientific synthesis were used in the work, which made it possible to form recommendations and methodological provisions for the analysis and improvement of internal control of the quality and safety of medical care. Results. The COVID-19 epidemic leveled the upward trend in life expectancy of the Russian population (an overall reduction of 5% in 2021 compared to 2019). This is the result of the contribution of defects in the provision of medical care and medical errors. Not the last role in the reduction of life expectancy was played by the low professional competence of some groups of medical workers, which is especially clearly manifested in the regions. Conclusion. A simplified approach has been developed to routine checks of the quality and safety of medical care within the framework of internal control, regulated by the order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated July 31, 2020 No. 785n. The approach is based on the use of a system of indicators determined by the institutional triad: timeliness of provision, correct choice of medical interventions, results of assistance. To evaluate the indicators, a weight-point method is proposed that allows you to obtain a preliminary conclusion on the state of the quality and safety of medical care in an organization and only after that proceed to extended scheduled and targeted (unscheduled) checks, regulated by order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated July 31, 2020 No. 785n.

internal control, quality, safety, medical care, medical organization, assessment methods.