Notice on improving medical liability insurance solutions

(en.nhfpc.gov.cn)

Updated: 2014-08-04

The Health and Family Planning Commissions (Health Bureaus), Justice Departments (Bureaus), Finance Departments (Bureaus) and Administrations of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities; Health Bureau, Justice Bureau, Finance Bureau of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; Insurance Regulatory Bureaus:

To implement policy decisions made by the central government, to maintain orderly medical practices and to establish a good doctor-patient relationship, we put forward the following requirements in an effort to improve the mediation-insurance system that centers on people’s mediation. This is in coordination with court mediation and judicial conciliation to bring risk-pooling into full play (mainly through medical liability insurances) in settling medical disputes and managing medical risks. Another goal is to improve China’s medial liability insurance system while increasing insurance coverage and quality of services.

Full awareness of the importance of medical liability insurance to doctor-patient relationships

Medical care is a major livelihood issue that concerns hundreds of millions of China’s population. As a risk-pooling system with functions of mutual assistance and social management, medical insurance plays a significant role in protecting legitimate interests for both doctors and patients, preventing and settling medical disputes, and establishing a harmonious doctor-patient relationship. It helps:

1) protect legitimate interests for both doctors and patients and establish a good rapport between them. Medical liability insurance is a kind of insurance paid by medical institutions that are held liable for money damages. As a third party to help settle medical liabilities, it offers timely economic compensations to patients based on contracts, which largely avoids medical disputes and enhances doctor-patient relationships;

2) prevent and settle medical disputes to ensure properly functioning medical practices. Medical insurance as a third-party solution can get medical disputes settled legitimately outside of medical institutions that are thus able to refrain from getting involved;

3) improve risk-management capabilities and the entire medical-care system. Insurance is a basic risk-management tool in the market-economy system. Medical liability insurance that leverages both incentives and restrictions on medical institutions raises institutions’ desire to avert risks, jack up housekeeping efforts and improve the quality and management of medical services. This can majorly reduce medical disputes and strengthen the overall capacity for risk management.