Health and family planning work improvements in 2014

(en.nhfpc.gov.cn)

Updated: 2015-01-20

Healthcare reform was deepened and positive progress was made in important areas

First, substantive progress was made in public hospital reform. The State Council held a teleconference on advancing comprehensive reform of public hospitals at the county level. It worked with five government organs to formulate the Opinions on Pushing Forward County-Level Public Hospitals Reform. A total of 1,363 counties at State and provincial levels were involved. More than 2,400 county-level public hospitals did away with the mechanism linking drug prescription to doctor’s salary, eliminated drug price additions and adjusted medical service prices. Governments at various levels increased input to build a new operation mechanism. Ministerial officials took the lead in carrying out county-level public hospital comprehensive reform supervision, which showed that the outpatient rate reached above 85 percent in pilot counties. They also formulated urban public hospital comprehensive reform guidance, which involved 63 national and provincial pilot cities. Officials coordinated Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian and Qinghai in studying and making a comprehensive reform plan to push forward medical reform.

Second, the universal healthcare system has constantly improved. Financial aid to medical insurance for the new rural cooperative medical system and urban residents has been raised to 320 yuan ($51.47) per capita. Expense reimbursements for outpatient service and hospitalization have stayed above 50 and 75 percent, respectively, in the new rural cooperative medical system policy. The national information platform has been connected with 16 provincial platforms. Payment for 204 diseases was standardized, and 57 percent of pilot counties have explored the implementation of payment based on the type of disease. All provinces have carried out serious illness insurance pilot work, including 10 provinces which have gone all out for the work. A total of 15.5 billion yuan was raised throughout the year, benefiting 2.43 million people. Patients with serious illness have had their actual reimbursement ratio increased by 10-15 percentage points. A disease emergency assistance system was established and helped 330,000 people.

Third, the essential medicine system and community-level service network were consolidated. Supply security work for commonly used low-priced and children’s drugs was taken care of, and a total of seven medicines have been appointed production sites. A total of five pilot provinces realized connections between the provincial centralized drug purchasing platform and national surveillance platform. Community-level healthcare comprehensive reform contact point development was carried out in 34 counties in 17 provinces. The basic public health service fund was raised to 35 yuan per capita, and the role of the community-level health institution as health gatekeeper was strengthened.

Fourth, important breakthroughs were made in professional team construction. Health and family planning administrations worked with relevant departments and formulated the Opinions on Deepening Clinical Medicine Talent Cultivation Reform through Sustained Medical Education. Relevant deployments were made. A series of documents, including resident doctor standardized training management methods, were unveiled. A total of 559 training institutes were chosen. The central financial department put in 1.5 billion yuan to support the training of 50,000 resident doctors. More than 5,600 medical students were exempt from tuition for their future service in rural areas, serving as general talents at the community level.

Fifth, the health service industry saw accelerated development. Non-government-funded hospitals were encouraged. The number of private hospitals reached 12,000 by the end of 2014, and diagnosis and treatment service volume went up 13.4 percent year-on-year. Opinions on boosting and standardizing doctor’s multi-sited practices were issued, and nearly 170,000 urban hospital doctors practiced medicine at medical institutes at county and village levels.

Sixth, medical order witnessed gratifying changes. On one hand, health and family planning administrations cracked down on crimes against doctors and medical disturbances in accordance with the law. On the other hand, they insisted on the construction of a long-term mechanism featuring three-level conciliations and medical insurance. Crimes against doctors dropped 10.6 percent by the end of November 2014, year-on-year, and medical disturbances declined 18 percent. The success rate of people’s mediation reached above 85 percent. More than 50,000 medical institutes nationwide opted into medical liability insurance, and more than 6000 medical institutes opted into mutual funds against medical risks. The medical order was generally in good condition.