The zero-markup drug policy (ZMDP) was heralded as the biggest reform to China’s modern health system. However, there have been a very limited number of investigations of the ZMDP at county hospital level, and those limited county hospital studies have several limitations in terms of sample representativeness and study design. We investigated the overall and dynamic effects of ZMDP at traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) county hospitals. We obtained longitudinal data from all TCM county hospitals in 2004–16 and the implementation year of ZMDP for each hospital. We used differences-in-difference methods to identify the overall and dynamic effects of ZMDP. On average, the ZMDP reform was associated with the reduction in the share of revenue from drug sales (3.1%), revenue from western medicines sales (12.7%), revenue from medical care services (3.6%) and gross hospital revenue (3.4%), as well as increased government subsidies (24.4%). The ZMDP reform was not significantly associated with the number of annual outpatient and inpatient visits. In terms of dynamic effects, the share of revenue from drug sales decreased by 2.5% in the implementation year and by about 5% in the subsequent years. Revenue from western medicine sales fell substantially in the short term and continued to drop in the long term. Government subsidies went up strikingly in the short term and long term, and revenue from medical care services and gross revenue decreased only in the implementation year. The ZMDP achieved its stated goal through reducing the share of revenue from drug sales without disrupting the availability of healthcare services at TCM county hospitals. The success of ZMDP was mainly due to the huge growth in the government’s financial investment in TCM hospitals.
Background Cancer is a major public health issue worldwide. The cost of cancer care imposes a substantial economic burden on society and patient, but it has not been thoroughly studied in China. This study aimed to describe direct cost and cost elements of all cancer types by different beneficial characteristics. Methods The research was a retrospective observational study based on inpatient and outpatient records with a primary diagnosis of cancer from 31 hospitals in 2016. Total cost and cost per time were analyzed by cancer type, sources (prescription medicines, consumables fee for diagnosis and surgery, and other health services), and beneficial characteristics (gender and age). Results A total of 30 224 eligible inpatient admissions and 485 391 outpatient visits were identified during the study period. Inpatient care costs account for 58.6% cancer treatment costs. Nearly 70% of the total expenditure is spent on patients aged 50‐79 years. Lung cancer had the highest economic cost (15% of overall cancer costs), followed by breast cancer (12%), and colorectal cancer (10%). Anticancer drug cost accounted a large proportion in both inpatient (37.7%) and outpatient care (64.6%). The average cost per inpatient admission was estimated to be $4590.1 (5621.9), ranging from $1157.7 (1349.8) for testis cancer to $7975 (7343.9) for stomach cancer. The regression analyses revealed that length of hospital stay, cancer type, age, payment type, and hospital level were highly correlated with the expenditure per admission (P < 0.001). Conclusions The cancer care cost is substantial and varies with cancer type. Our findings provide important information for health service planning, allowing more efficient allocation of health resources for the care of people with cancer.
ObjectivesThis study investigates the disparities in the utilisation of patient health services for patients who had a stroke covered by different urban basic health insurance schemes in China.DesignWe conducted descriptive analysis based on a 5% random sample from claims data of China Urban Employees’ Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) and Urban Residents’ Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) in 2015, supplied by the China Health Insurance Research Association.SettingChinese urban social insurance system.ParticipantsA total of 56 485 patients who had a stroke were identified, including 36 487 UEBMI patients and 19 998 URBMI patients.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary outcome measures include annual number of hospitalisations, average length of stay (ALOS) and average hospitalisation cost. Out-of-pocket (OOP) cost is the secondary outcome measure.ResultsThe annual mean number of hospitalisations of UEBMI patients was 1.21 and 1.15 for URBMI patients. The ALOS was significantly longer for UEBMI than for URBMI patients (13.93 vs 10.82, p<0.001). Hospital costs were significantly higher for UEBMI than for URBMI patients (US$1724.02 vs US$986.59 (p<0.001), while the OOP costs were significantly higher for URBMI than for UEBMI patients (US$423.17 vs US$407.81 (p<0.001). Patients with UEBMI had higher reimbursement rate than URBMI patients (79.41% vs 66.92%, p<0.001) and a lower self-paid ratio than URBMI patients (23.65% vs 42.89%, p<0.001).ConclusionsSignificant disparities were found in the utilisation of hospital services between UEBMI and URBMI patients. Our results call for a systemic strategy to improve the fragmented social health insurance system and narrow the gaps in China’s health insurance schemes.
Background. Traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TCAM) has attracted increasing attention in developed countries, but its mainstream status in China, the home of TCAM, is unclear. Over the period of 2004–2016, we analyze the health resources and health resource utilization of traditional medicine in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals in China. Methods. Over 2004–2016, we obtained data from all TCM hospitals in all Chinese provinces to create a hospital-based, longitudinal dataset. TCM health resources and their utilization were measured by two outcome variables: (1) primary outcome variables comprising the proportion of TCM physicians, TCM pharmacists, revenue from TCM drugs, and TCM prescriptions and (2) the secondary outcome variables, as proxies of westernization for TCM hospitals, comprising the number of medical equipment above RMB 10,000 and the proportion of surgery in inpatient visits. We used linear regression models with hospital-fixed effects to analyze time trends for the outcome variables. Results. The number of public TCM hospitals remained stable from 2004 to 2016, while the number of private TCM hospitals increased from 294 in 2004 to 1560 in 2016. There was a small percentage increase in the proportion of TCM physicians (0.280%), TCM pharmacists (0.298%), and revenue from Chinese medicines (0.331%) and TCM prescriptions (1.613%) per hospital per year. Chinese drugs accounted for less than a half of the total drug prescriptions, and accordingly, just one-third of the drug revenue was from Chinese medicines at TCM hospitals. The proportions of physicians, pharmacists, revenue from Chinese drug sales, and traditional medicine prescriptions never reach the 60% benchmark target for mainstream in TCM hospitals. As proxies for Western medicine practices in TCM hospitals, the number of medical equipment above RMB 10,000 rapidly rose by over 13 percent per hospital per year, but the proportion of inpatient surgeries declined by 0.830 percentage points per hospital per year, reflecting a mixed trend in the use of Western medicine practices. Conclusion. For the 2004–2016 period, traditional medicine, although making progress towards the mainstream benchmark of 60% TCM services, was still not mainstream at TCM hospitals.
Background: Stroke has been the leading cause of death in China and contributed almost one-third to stroke deaths worldwide. The rising cost of stroke treatment is of great concern, but has not been thoroughly studied. This study aimed to analyze stroke in-hospital charges by subtypes, age, and sex and investigate potential factors associated with the cost of per stay. Methods: The research was a retrospective observational study based on patients with a primary diagnosis of stroke from 31 hospitals in Beijing. Characteristics of total treatment cost and cost of per stay were analyzed. The potential influences on hospital charges were explored using a stepwise multiple regression model. Results: A total of 16,111 stroke in-patient admissions were identified among which 8.3% was subarachnoid hemorrhage, 22.4% intracerebral hemorrhage, and 69.1% cerebral infarction. The average length of stay (LoS) was 14.5 (11.9) days. The cost of per stay was USD 4,423.9 (6,684.4) among which the out-of-pocket expenses were USD 1,640.2 (3,118.0). Stroke type, age, medical insurance, treatment results, and hospital level were significantly associated with the cost of stroke (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Hospitalization cost of stroke was substantial. These findings provide health policymakers and healthcare professionals with evidence to help guide future spending.
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