Analysis on the development and equity trends of health institutions in China:A research per-spective based on adjusted population and geographical area / 中国卫生政策研究

Objective: To analyze the trends of development and equity of health institutions in China during the period from 2002 to 2013 , and put forward references to optimize the decision-making on health resources alloca-tion. Methods:Statistical map, Gini coefficient and other methods were used to analyze the distribution and equity of health institutions in China for 12 years, during the period from 2002 to 2013. Results:(1) The overall development of health institutions is on the rise in China, and the distribution density of health resources with the population ad-justment is opposite to the adjustment of both population and geographic area at the same time. (2) In the past 12 years, the number of tertiary hospitals showed an increasing trend, and growth in the eastern region was the most sig-nificant. (3) From 2002 to 2013, the Gini coefficient of the number of health institutions and beds per 1,000 per-sons per square kilometer was maintained at 0. 40, and decreased from 0. 70 to 0. 60 in the eastern region of China, respectively. This same number was maintained at 0. 40 and 0. 20 in the central and western region. Conclusion: In China, the fairness trend of health resources allocation has improved during the period from 2002 to 2013, but the imbalance is more serious in the eastern region than in the central and western regions. It should be paid more atten-tion to optimizing the health resources allocation according to the local conditions of different regions, especially the influence of geographical distribution.

Competition as policy tool for public hospital reform in China / 中国卫生政策研究

The essence of the market-oriented reforms is to promote competition rather than privatization. Competition does not only exist between public and private ownership forms, but also among public hospital them-selves. The promotion of the internal competition among public hospitals will play a positive role for the market mechanism to take effect. Due to the unique in various aspects of health care market, competition can have positive or negative influences on performance, thus the policy makers need to guide the competition policies carefully to make sure they work in the right direction. In regard to the status quo, we provide the following policy suggestions which emphasize on stronger regulation, higher degree of autonomy for lower-level medical institutions, and more information disclosure.