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Frontiers of Medicine

ISSN 2095-0217

ISSN 2095-0225(Online)

CN 11-5983/R

Postal Subscription Code 80-967

2018 Impact Factor: 1.847

Front. Med.    2018, Vol. 12 Issue (2) : 218-223    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11684-017-0534-7
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Qualitative analysis of direction of public hospital reforms in China
Dahai Zhao1, Zhiruo Zhang2()
1. School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
2. School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200025, China
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Abstract

Reforms in public hospitals are among the most important improvements in China’s health care system over the last two decades. However, the reforms that should be implemented in public hospitals are unclear. Thus, a feasible direction of reforms in Chinese public hospitals is suggested and reliable policy suggestions are provided for the government to reform public hospitals. The data used in this study were mainly derived from a qualitative study. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted in Shanghai, Guangdong, and Gansu between May and December 2014. Government funding accounted for approximately eight percent of the total annual revenue of public hospitals in China, and the insufficient government subsidy considerably affects the operation mechanism of public hospitals. However, solely increasing this subsidy cannot address the inappropriate incentives of public hospitals in China. The most crucial step in setting the direction of reforms in public hospitals in China is transforming inappropriate incentives by implementing a new evaluation index system for directors and physicians in public hospitals.

Keywords public hospital      government hospital      public funding      operation mechanism     
Corresponding Author(s): Zhiruo Zhang   
Just Accepted Date: 02 June 2017   Online First Date: 05 July 2017    Issue Date: 02 April 2018
 Cite this article:   
Dahai Zhao,Zhiruo Zhang. Qualitative analysis of direction of public hospital reforms in China[J]. Front. Med., 2018, 12(2): 218-223.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fmd/EN/10.1007/s11684-017-0534-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fmd/EN/Y2018/V12/I2/218
Year Classification by public funding Classification by ownership
Public Non-public Government Society Private
2005 15 483 3220 9980 6604 2219
2006 15 141 4105 9757 6598 2891
2007 14 900 4952 9832 6446 3574
2008 14 309 5403 9777 6048 3887
2009 14 051 6240 9651 6046 4594
2010 13 850 7068 9629 5892 5397
2011 13 539 8440 9579 5926 6474
2012 13 384 9786 9637 6029 7504
2013 13 441 11 029 ? ? ?
2014 13 343 12 166 ? ? ?
Tab.1  Number of hospitals in China from 2005 to 2014
Year Public hospitals Government hospitals
Annual revenue (billion CNY) Government funding (%) Annual revenue (billion CNY) Government funding (%)
2008 663.4 7.8 609.0 8.4
2009 810.8 8.1 745.7 8.8
2010 969.9 8.2 901.1 8.8
2011 1164.1 8.7 1088.6 9.3
2012 1421.3 8.2 1332.9 8.4
Tab.2  Percentage of public funding relative to annual total revenue in public and government hospitals in China from 2008 to 2012
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