Integrated care pathway and payment reform: practices in China / 中华医院管理杂志

A description of the intervention measures of the reform program for integrated care and payment in pilot areas,covering such diseases as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cerbral stroke.The reform aims at exploring impacts on both medical behaviors and medical costs.Authors of the paper hold that the practice of packaged ceiling payment for a single disease is a two-edged sword for clinical pathway management,and joint efforts by the government,medical insurers,medical workers and patients at large are required to regulate medical behaviors over time.They also see the total growth of medical costs as an objective rule,and the correct way out for optimal use of medical insurance funds is to focus on makeup of such costs.