ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To provide reference for the smooth implementation of the “dual channel” management policy for China’s medical insurance negotiated drugs. METHODS Based on Smith policy implementation process model， the dilemmas for the implementation of “dual channel” policy for medical insurance negotiated drugs were analyzed from four aspects： implementation details and regulatory system， drug selection， drug provision and quality control， the situation of medical insurance funds and information technology capabilities. The corresponding promotion strategies were put forward. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS The “dual channel” policy for medical insurance negotiated drugs in China might face implementation difficulties such as a lack of clear implementation rules and a full process supervision system， the suitability and operability of some medical insurance negotiated drugs need to be considered in the “dual channel” management， difficulties in drug allocation and quality control， differences in the management and operation of medical insurance funds in different regions， and insufficient informatization capability. In this regard， this study suggests that measures， such as improving the implementation rules of the “dual channel” policy， enhancing the rationality of the “dual channel” drug catalog， establishing a dynamic exit mechanism for “dual channel” pharmacies， promoting professional delivery services， and improving the electronic prescription circulation platform， which can be taken to enhance the implementation effect of the “dual channel” policy.
ABSTRACT
Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT) has revolutionized how we perceive artificial intelligence (AI).: Judge Juan Manuel Padilla Garcia created history by mentioning its use while passing judgment about an autistic child and payment for his medical treatment by his insurance company. The use of AI is not new and is helping the judiciary system in many ways. However, this judgment given on January 30, 2023, has ignited controversy among Judge Garcia’s peers and the global community (a Google search produced more than 70 million hits on February 5, 2023). EU has established guidelines that are to be followed before calling any AI tool trustworthy. This requires stringent compliance with the verification and due diligence process. In this instance, ChatGPT was used within 2 months of its launch, even when it has been shown to give incomplete, incorrect, and misleading answers in many instances. Hasty adaption of unproven technology, however good it may be, should not be our path. This might fuel the misguided fear amongst people about robots taking over from human judges.
ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the implementation effect of single disease payment policy for day surgery (hereinafter referred to as the policy), for references for the reform of medical insurance payment.Methods:By collecting the information of inpatients from 2017 to 2019 in a tertiary hospital, the research group took patients with colorectal benign tumor and nodular goitre as the policy implementation group and the control group respectively. 2017-2018 was the pre implementation stage of the policy, and 2019 was the post implementation stage of the policy. The difference-in-differences (DID) model was used to analyze the changes in indicators such as length of stay and hospitalization expenses after policy implementation, under whether the policy is implemented or not, as well as before or after policy implementation.Results:A total of 2 419 patients were included, including 927 patients with nodular goiter in the control group and 1 492 patients with colorectal benign tumors in the policy implementation group (688 patients before the policy implementation and 804 patients after the policy implementation). The results of DID showed that the hospital days for patients with colorectal benign tumor decreased by 56.53%, the hospitalization expenses decreased by 26.51%, the out-of-pocket expenses decreased by 26.66%, the treatment expenses increased by 11.96%, the drug expenses decreased by 50.29% and the consumables expenses decreased by 20.23% after the implementation of the policy.Conclusions:The implementation of the policy could reduce length of stay, hospitalization expenses and out-of-pocket expenses, optimize the structure of hospitalization expenses, improve the efficiency of hospital diagnosis and treatment, and help the hospital realize its transformation from a size expansion to a quality and benefit expansion.
ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the influencing factors of the medical insurance balance of hospitalization expenses for gastric cancer surgery patients under DRG payment, for reference for promoting the reform of DRG payment in public hospitals and controlling hospitalization expenses reasonably.Methods:The gastric cancer patients enrolled in the gastroenterology department of a tertiary comprehensive hospital from January to July 2022 were selected as the research subjects. The indicators such as patient age, medical insurance balance, hospitalization expenses and their composition were extracted from the hospital information management system and the medical insurance settlement system a certain city. Descriptive analysis was conducted for all data, and stepwise multiple linear regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of patients′ medical insurance balance. Monte Carlo simulation method was used to simulate different combination scenarios of various influencing factors to analyze the probability of medical insurance balance.Results:A total of 205 patients were contained, including 117 in the medical insurance balance group and 88 in the loss group. The difference in hospitalization expenses and medical insurance balance between the two groups of patients were statistically significant ( P<0.05). The intervention of medical insurance specialists, correct DRG enrollment, parenteral nutrition preparation costs, anti infective drug costs, examination costs, and consumables costs were the influencing factors of patient medical insurance balance ( P<0.05). Through Monte Carlo simulation verification, patients with different cost parenteral nutrition preparations, or different anti infective drug schemes had the higher probability of medical insurance balance in the scenario where the medical insurance commissioner intervenes and the DRG enrollment was correct. Conclusions:The hospital adopted interventions from medical insurance specialists to ensure the correct DRG enrollment of patients, accurate use of parenteral nutrition and anti infective drugs, and reasonable control the cost of examinations and consumables, which could increase the probability of medical insurance balance for gastric cancer surgery patients. In the future, hospitals should further promote the procurement of drug consumables in bulk, reduce unnecessary examinations, develop standardized perioperative nutritional interventions and anti infection treatment pathways, ensure the accuracy of DRG enrollment, optimize clinical diagnosis and treatment pathways to improve the efficiency of medical insurance fund utilization and provide high-quality medical services for patients.
ABSTRACT
In order to curb the excessive growth of medical expenses, the United States has initiated payment reform of diagnosis-related groups (DRG) since 1983, and developed a series of complementary measures to address issues such as overcoding and declining healthcare service quality which were exposed during the reform. The authors discussed the implementation of DRG payment reform in the United States, namely the case-mix specialization of medical institutions and the reduction of costs, as well as the relationship between the two. On this basis, the authors suggested that when implementing reforms to the medical insurance payment system in China, it is imperative to avoid such loopholes as overcoding by medical institutions and excessive pursuit of efficiency at the expense of quality control, as well as the decline of comprehensive rescue capability and quality of care incurred by the exacerbated specialization.
ABSTRACT
As the major means of outpatient payment for basic medical insurance (the insurance for short) relies on fee-for-service, it tends to encourage unreasonable growth of medical expenses. Based on the principal-agent theory, this paper analyzed the principal-agent relationship between the insurance handling agencies and the hospitals designated by the insurance, and constructed a benefit game model of outpatient payment methods and the supporting supervision game model. This practice aims to explore the optimal and balanced benefit of the insurance payment methods and supporting supervision mechanism, and provide decision support for promoting the reform of medical insurance outpatient payment in China. The analysis results of the benefit game model of payment methods showed that a system mixing the post-payment and pre-payment could optimize and maximize the total benefits and interests of all the stakeholders within the system. Specifically, the practice recommended was a mixed payment integrating ambulatory-payment-classification, fee-for-service and global-budget-payment. The analysis of the supporting regulatory game model found that the factors that must be considered to ensure the expected utility of the above mixed payment mode as follows: the gap between the unreasonable income obtained by the hospital by out-of-control charging and the reward obtained by under-control charging, the size of the penalty after the unreasonable income of the hospital was discovered, the size of the regulatory cost and the loss of benefits of the government and the insured group. It is suggested to adopt the mixed payment method mainly based on the ambulatory-payment-classification supported by fee-for-service and global-budget. At the same time, medical insurance agencies can improve their supervision mechanism from such aspects as perfecting penalties, reducing supervision costs, leveraging government administrative power and advocating public supervision.
ABSTRACT
Objective:Clinical research is widely carried out in medical institutions, and there are differences in the use of research and conventional medical funds. This paper aimed to analyze the compliance issues of insurance fund in clinical research and explore the management strategies in the institutions conducting clinical trials or research.Methods:By consulting the literature, questionnaire, and work practice, this paper analyzed the current situation and existing problems of the compliance of the medical insurance fund in domestic clinical trials, proposed targeted management measures for the use of funds, and standardizes the corresponding workflow.Results:This paper summarized three payment methods of research-related funds and analyzed the main problems at present, including the definition of trial requirements, the payment of combined drugs specified in the protocol, the particularity of medical device trials, the payment of adverse events in clinical trial, the insurance of post-marketing research and clinical trial. According to the regulatory requirements and work practices, the corresponding management countermeasures were sorted out, including that the project funds and insurance audit should be carried out inside the medical institution. Clinical research, medical insurance management departments, ethics committees, and other departments should collaborate on establishing and improving a compliance management system. The research team should strengthen the management of adverse events, strengthen the publicity and education of the participants, and make good use of the sharing platform.Conclusions:The research institution should establish standardized and feasible processes, the research team should strengthen the management, and the use of the sharing platform is conducive to ensuring the compliance of the medical insurance fund and protecting the interests of the participants.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To discuss medical insurance access and pricing methods for multi-indication drugs. METHODS The access situation of multi-indication drugs in China’s medical insurance negotiation over the years was sorted out. Referring to the economic theory of value-based pricing and the relevant experience of other countries， five applicable pricing methods of 3 categories for multi-indication drug in China were summarized. Taking ceftazidime-avibactam（CAZ-AVI） as an example， cost- utility analyses were performed for different indications， and appropriate pricing methods were applied. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS All multi-indication drugs in China adopted a single pricing method. The pricing methods that could be explored include product-based pricing， such as single pricing based on the lower-value indication or mixed/weighted single pricing； indication-based pricing， such as developing a new agreement for single pricing under different discounts and listing with different brands and pricing of the same medicine for different indications； and compensation for access restrictions. Each method has its advantages and limitations. The case of CAZ-AVI showed that it is necessary to estimate the value of each indication for multi- indication drugs， and comprehensively consider appropriate access conditions and pricing methods based on value. Although single pricing is simple to operate， it is different to reflect the value entirely. The indication-based pricing and compensation for access restrictions all depend on the information collection system and the cooperation of multiple departments. China is supposed to carry out the value-based pricing of multi-indication drugs and constantly explore reasonable access methods to improve overall social welfare.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To analyze the difference between the payment limitations of anti-cancer drugs and application scope of drug instructions， so as to better implement the payment policy of medical insurance drugs. METHODS The differences between the payment limitations of anti-cancer drugs and application scope of drug instructions in the National Catalogue of Drugs for Basic Medical Insurance， Industrial Injury Insurance and Maternity Insurance （2022） were compared and analyzed； the evidence-based basis of the difference was discussed， and the scope of limited payment was interpreted. RESULTS Totally 118 drugs had payment limitations； limitations scope mainly included limited evidence of gene detection results， limited indications， limited second-line and above treatment， limited payment duration， limited specialist prescription， limited medical institution grade， etc. Among them， 43 drugs had differences between the payment limitations and drug instructions， and the indications of 31 drugs were greater than payment limitations； for seven drugs， the drug indications beyond the payment limitations were recommended by the guidelines. The payment limitations of 75 drugs were consistent with drug instructions. The second-line and multi-line treatment was ineffective or intolerable with first-line drugs. There was a certain relationship between locally advanced， advanced or metastatic tumor and tumor stage， but different tumors had different criteria. Systemic treatment mainly referred to systemic treatment with drug. The results of limited genetic test required that the result was positive or negative. In addition， six kinds of TCM injections were limited to the level of medical institutions； the payment of two drugs did not exceed 12 months； when lenalidomide was combined with isazomide citrate， the medical insurance only paid for one of the drugs. CONCLUSIONS The payment limitations of some anti- cancer drugs are inconsistent with the drug indications. The drug payment limitations should be expanded according to the actual situation of clinical medication and the recommendations of guidelines. At the same time， the payment limitations should be formulated accurately and in detail， thus clinical and medical insurance staff can understand it and fully protect the interests of patients.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To analyze the implementation experience of France’s additional list system for innovative medical products， and to provide reference for China to support medical institutions to use innovative medical products. METHODS Taking France as a case study， using policy analysis method， this paper systematically studied the practice of establishing additional list system to compensate for innovative medical products in France under diagnosis-related group （DRG） payment， including the establishment background， selection procedure and implementation effect. The suggestions were provided on the medical insurance payment methods for innovative medical products in China. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS The additional list system established a compensation and payment system for innovative medical products with significant clinical efficacy but high treatment cost， covering four stages： application， evaluation， payment and adjustment， which effectively reduced the drug burden on medical institutions， promoted the use of innovative pharmaceutical products by medical institutions， and stimulated the innovation drive of the pharmaceutical industry， but at the same time brought payment pressure to the medical insurance fund. With the rapid spread of our DRG/diagnosis-intervention packet payment reform of China， some regions have also explored the establishment of a compensation and payment mechanism for innovative medical products， but there are still imperfections. We can refer to the implementation experience of the French additional list system and establish an effective compensation and payment system for innovative medical products starting from the establishment of selection criteria， the selection of compensation mode and the implementation of dynamic adjustment.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To provide reference for the subsequent landing of national medical insurance negotiated drugs （referred to as “national negotiated drugs”） at the provincial level. METHODS By reviewing the data publicly released by the official websites of National Healthcare Security Administration and the Healthcare Security Administration of Zhejiang Province， combined with policy documents， the descriptive analysis was conducted on the number of tertiary medical institutions， the actual allocation of national negotiated drugs， the availability rate of national negotiated drugs， the allocation rate of national negotiated drug varieties， and the allocation rate of medical institutions of various cities in Zhejiang province. The Spearman rank correlation test was used to analyze the correlation between the number of types of national negotiated drugs equipped in tertiary medical institutions in Zhejiang province and the per capita disposable income， the number of tertiary medical institutions equipped with national negotiated drugs， and the implementation time of disease diagnosis-related grouping （DRG） of various cities in Zhejiang province. RESULTS As of the first quarter of 2022， 135 tertiary medical institutions in Zhejiang province were equipped with a total of 261 types of national negotiated drugs， accounting for 94.91% of the 2021 edition of the National Negotiated Drugs Catalogue （275 types）. The allocation rates of Goserelin acetate sustained-release implant， Sacubitril valsartan sodium tablets， Alteplase for injection and other varieties were at high level， and the types of national negotiated drugs equipped were highly coincident with the top 10 causes of death with disease of urban and rural residents in Zhejiang province. The tertiary medical institutions in Hangzhou had the most types of national negotiated drugs， with 230 types， while Quzhou had the lowest， with only 34 types； allocation rate of national negotiated drugs in medical institutions of Zhoushan was the highest （100%）， while that of Lishui was the lowest （57.14%）. The types of national negotiated drugs equipped were positively correlated with per capita disposable income in various cities and the number of tertiary medical institutions equipped with national negotiated drugs （P＜0.01）， and there was no significant correlation with the length of implementation of DRG （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS mail：lanyao@mails.tjmu.edu.cn The landing of national negotiated drugs in Zhejiang province is generally good， with a high rate of equipping tertiary medical institutions with national negotiated drugs and a high rate of equipping drug varieties. Therefore， it is recommended that the provincial implementation of national negotiated drugs should be multi-faceted， and policy-making departments should adopt a dual-channel of “unbundling” and “driving” to smooth the drug chain into hospitals. The health insurance sector should improve the “dual channel” management mechanism to share the pressure on hospitals to use drugs. At the same time， it should also improve the multi-level medical security system and raise the level of reimbursement of medical insurance for national negotiated drugs.
ABSTRACT
@#Rare diseases, also known as "orphan diseases", refer to diseases with very low incidence. Countries and regions define rare diseases according to epidemiological standards, economic standards of rare drugs and disease severity. The World Health Organization (WHO) has suggested the prevalence rate of less than 6.5 to 10 per 10 000 people to define rare diseases. In May 2018, "China's First List of Rare Diseases" was released, including 121 rare diseases. Most rare diseases are hereditary diseases with early onset, severe disease, and poor prognosis. About 75% of rare genetic diseases occur in the neonatal period or childhood, which are important part of human birth defects and brings a huge burden to society and families. The effective prevention and treatment of rare diseases is one of the important goals of building a "Healthy China". With the development of molecular biology technology and the continuous research and development of advanced medical products in the field of gene therapy, the level of clinical diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases has risen to a new level, which provides a possibility for the cure of some rare diseases. In China, most rare diseases rely on imported drugs, which cost a lot and bring heavy economic burden to patients. Improving the medical insurance system for rare diseases has become a difficult point in the current medical reform. This paper mainly discusses the definition of rare diseases, the research status, efforts and future development direction of rare diseases in China, in order to deepen the understanding and response of medical workers and the whole society to rare diseases.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To provide reference for the access to medical insurance for rare diseases in China based on the existing access pathway and framework by analyzing the access policy of medical insurance for rare diseases in the United Kingdom （UK）. METHODS After collecting relevant guidelines and policy documents related to drug use for rare diseases in the UK， content analysis method was used to analyze the evaluation mechanism of drug use for rare diseases， reimbursement decision- making standards， stakeholder participation， coping strategies for dealing with uncertainties and risks， and policy implementation effects， and extract the key points of medical insurance access for drug use for rare diseases in the UK， to provide some suggestions for the establishment of medical insurance access system for rare diseases in China. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS From the perspective of access， the UK had adopted a separate approach and clear criteria to assess and reimburse drugs for rare diseases. From the perspective of evaluation mechanism， multi-stakeholders such as doctors， patients and applicants participated in the decision-making process in the UK. The UK addressed uncertainty and risk by gathering better clinical evidence and using the patient access programme. After the implementation of the policy related to drug use for rare diseases， the UK had achieved remarkable results in terms of funding for drug use for rare diseases， the reimbursement rate of drug application， and the number of funded patients. It is suggested that in the process of establishing and improving the evaluation and reimbursement system for rare diseases drugs in China， the availability of rare diseases drugs should be improved by establishing a separate access assessment path for rare diseases drugs and involving more stakeholders.
ABSTRACT
With the explosive growth of " City-customized Medical Insurance" products, the voice of commercial health insurance needs medical insurance data support is increasing.The authors took " City-customized Medical Insurance" as the representative of commercial health insurance, analyzed the demands and motivations of stakeholders in medical insurance data sharing through the power-interest matrix model, and summarized the medical insurance data sharing path at the commercial insurance product design end and claim settlement end. It is suggested to strengthen the top-level design, build the implementation path of standardized sharing of medical insurance data and the operation mechanism of hospital data docking, to realize the value increment of all stakeholders.
ABSTRACT
As a powerful attempt by government to promote the construction of the multi-level healthcare security system and social and commercial integration in China, " City-customized Medical Insurance" still has many problems to be solved at the beginning of its development, such as unclear boundary between government and enterprises, limited coverage and strength of security. On the basis of clarifying the current situation of " City-customized Medical Insurance", and combing the management experience of social and commercial integration in Medicare Part C plan of the United States, the authors put forward that China should make full use of the advantages of the combination of promising government and efficient market, guide differentiated product design, and establish market access and evaluation mechanism, so as to promote the effective connection between China′s commercial health insurance and basic healthcare insurance, and further reduce the people′s medical burden.
ABSTRACT
Through literature research, this paper analyzed the research progress of medical service project cost accounting based on cost equivalent method. According to the calculation mode of cost equivalent value, this method could be divided into two types, namely, equivalent coefficient method and point method. This paper classified and summarized the application status of cost equivalent method in the cost accounting of medical service projects, analyzed the advantages of cost equivalent method, such as being able to consider a variety of cost drivers, concise accounting process and strong operability, discussed the existing problems of this method, and put forward suggestions for further deepening the application of cost equivalent method and strengthening hospital cost accounting, such as strengthening the summary and case publicity of cost equivalent method, reasonably combining and applying various methods, and scientifically and reasonably developing hospital cost accounting information construction, so as to help build a scientific and accurate cost accounting system for medical service project.
ABSTRACT
By leveraging information technologies such as the internet, the internet of things and artificial intelligence, the data-driven intelligent medical service system for obstetrics is an important means to alleviate the uneven distribution of obstetric medical resources, improve service efficiency and reduce medical costs. In recent years, the application advantages of the obstetric intelligent medical service system in maternal health monitoring, health education and remote consultation had gradually emerged, which could effectively improve pregnancy outcomes and improve the utilization of medical resources. Given the significant advantages of the system in convenience, accessibility and interactivity, it is also challenged in such aspects as imperfect application system, poor information security, imperfect policy system and uneven smartness among regions. Therefore it is necessary to further protect maternal and infant safety, promote system upgrading, improve the policy system, promote regional layout balance, and improve medical insurance payment system.
ABSTRACT
As suggested by regulatory feedbacks from relevant national regulatory agencies on the use of medical insurance funds, noticeable problems were found in the compliance and rationality of medical service charges among Chinese hospitals. Based on the practice of hospital management, the authors summarized common problems of various medical service charge management as reported by the management authorities at all levels. These problems referred to name-replaceable charges and affiliated charges, splitting charges, repeated charges, and multiple(false) charges. On this basis, the paper analyzed such hospital management risks incurred as regulatory penalties, fee disputes and medical disputes, as well as their internal and external causes. In the end, the paper put forward countermeasures and suggestions for reference by hospitals in their management of medical service charges.
ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the research hot topics, knowledge evolution context, potential frontier trends and future breakthrough directions in the field of medical security governance in China.Methods:Subject term retrieval was used to study the literatures related to medical security governance published by CNKI from January 2009 to December 2021. CiteSpace V software was used to draw the keyword co-occurrence network, time zone map, cluster map, and emergent word graph, and to visually analyze and predict the frontier hotspots and evolution trends in the field of medical security governance.Results:A total of 793 literatures were retrieved. The cooperation network among medical security governance research institutions in China needed to be strengthened; the mainstream of research focused on basic research on medical insurance system design, research on medical security governance paths and methods, and empirical research combined with the era background or policy hotspots.Conclusions:There are some problems in the current rerearch on medical security governance, such as imperfect theoretical construction, research content to be expanded, insufficient communication and cooperation, etc. Future research hotspots tend to be innovation of the goal, structure and path of medical security governance, application of big data in the field of medical security governance, and research on crisis response and challenges of medical security governance under public health emergencies. Future research should strengthen multi-cooperation to jointly tackle key problems, pay attention to the cross-integration of disciplines, develop localized medical security governance innovation systems and mechanisms, and enrich problem-oriented empirical research.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the budget impact on medical insurance fund upon the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension（PAH）included in the outpatient special and chronic disease management policy （hereinafter refer to as the Policy ）， so as to provide reference for medical insurance reimbursement decision-making. METHODS Based on the perspective of medical insurance payer ，a budget impact model with 10 million people was built to calculate the budget impact on the medical insurance fund in the next three years （2021-2023）after PAH treatment included in the Policy. The measured cost mainly included the cost of medicine，outpatient registration ，examinations，hospitalizations，and death events. RESULTS A total of 34-36 patients with PAH per year were expected to use targeted therapy during 2021-2023. For cities with outpatient costs not covered by the pooling fund of basic medical insurance ，upon the treatment of PAH included the Policy ，the annual expenditure of the medical insurance fund increased by about 40 000 yuan，i.e. an increase of about 1 000 yuan per patient. For cities with outpatient costs covered by the pooling fund ，the annual expenditure of the medical insurance fund increased by about 80 000 yuan，which was equal to 2 000 yuan increase per patient. The increment of above cost decreased year by year. CONCLUSIONS The incremental expenditure of the medical insurance fund is controllable after the treatment of PAH included the Policy ；with the implementation of the Policy ，the incremental expenditure of the medical insurance fund will be reduced year by year.