ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the supervision mode and problems of intensive countywide medical communities and explore the methods and strategies to improve their supervision system.Methods:From March 2022 to May 2022, a stratified random sampling method was used and the intensive countywide medical communities in the province were selected for field study. In-depth interviews were made with the staff of the healthcare administration departments and health insurance agencies affiliated with intensive countywide medical communities, directors of general hospitals, directors of township hospitals, and heads of functional departments. These interviews mainly covered the principal entities of countywide medical community supervision, supervision measures and contents, supervision effects, supervision weaknesses, and how to improve internal and external supervision mechanisms. The interviews results were analyzed using thematic framework analysis and the data were subject to a descriptive analysis.Results:23 persons of five intensive countywide medical communities were selected for key person interview. The finalized framework of regulatory elements of intensive countywide medical communities consists of such five general themes as regulatory subjects, regulatory content, regulatory measures, regulatory effectiveness and existing problems, comprising 14 level-1 indicators and 52 level-2 indicators. The main regulatory bodies were mainly government departments (15 times), the regulatory content was focused on medical resources (10 times), the regulatory measures cover specific regulations (4 times), specific activities (4 times) and assessment and evaluation (4 times). And the regulatory effectiveness demonstrated a currently strong regulation strength of medical communities (5 times), and the existing problems were insufficient government supervision (12 times), difficulties encountered by social forces in their supervision (11 times) and internal governance (5 times).Conclusions:The supervision system of intensive countywide medical communities should be optimized by improving the governmental supervision mechanism, inviting supervision of social forces and building an effective internal governance.
ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the evolution of China′s national-level healthcare sector regulatory policies between 2003 and 2021, and explore the characteristics and patterns of the use of policy instruments at different stages, for references in policy optimization.Methods:The policy documents related to the regulation of the healthcare sector released by the central government were searched from 2003 to 2021 from the policy document database of the State Council using the keywords " medical" " regulation" and " health" " regulation". Based on the analysis framework of " formulation subject-implementation subject-policy tools", such methods as content analysis, social network analysis, and policy tool analysis were used to analyze policy documents and conduct descriptive analysis of data.Results:A total of 236 policies were included in the study.From 2003 to 2008, according to the time progression, a total of 27 documents were issued, with the State Council as the main formulation subject (77.78%, 21/27), and the government as the main implementation subject (100.00%, 27/27). 191 policy tools were used, and the composition ratios of supply-based, demand-based, and environment-based policy instruments were 21.46% (41/191), 30.37% (58/191), and 48.17% (92/191). From 2009 to 2017, a total of 48 policies were issued, the formulation subject was mostly the State Council (93.75%, 45/48), and the implementation subject was still mostly the government (100.00%, 48/48), but the proportion of institutions (25.00%, 12/48), industry organizations (43.75%, 21/48) and the society (37.50%, 18/48) has increased. 500 policy tools were used, and the composition ratios of supply-based, demand-based, and environment-based policy instruments were 17.40% (87/500), 32.00% (160/500), and 50.60% (253/500), respectively.From 2018 to 2021, a total of 161 documents were issued, with the formulation subjects featuring multiple subjects (38.51%, 62/161), with a decrease in the percentage of the State Council′s issuance (22.36%, 36/161), and 157 (97.52%) policies were implemented by the government. 1 140 policy tools were used, and the composition ratios of supply-based, demand-based, and environment-based policy instruments being 18.42% (210/1 140), 34.74% (396/1 140), and 46.84% (534/1 140), respectively.Conclusions:From 2003 to 2021, there was an upward trend in the number of policies issued in the field of healthcare sector regulation in China, and the subjects of formulation and implementation were diversified. But the use of different types of policy instruments was uneven.