Effect of the general reform on county-level hospitals′ financial performance: a case study / 中华医院管理杂志

Objective:To analyze the impact of the comprehensive reform of public hospitals on the economic operation of county-level hospitals, by taking a county-level hospital as an example.Methods:The hospital launched the public hospital general reform in 2014. The hospital information system, hospital resource planning system and cost accounting information system collected the data of hospital business operation, expenditure/revenue, reimbursement for revenue loss due to " drug zero price gap" policy, charges and costs from 2014 to 2019, which were used to calculate the cost of medical service items and disease costs. The hospital′s service volume, changes in medical expenses, income structure, balance of revenue and expenditure and the compensation level for the zero difference rate of drugs were analyzed by descriptive analysis, and the actual charge and cost difference of medical service items and diseases were analyzed by comparative analysis.Results:Compared with 2014, the number of outpatient/emergency, surgery and discharge in 2019 increased by 31.51%, 40.21% and 12.21% respectively, and the average hospitalization cost increased by 4.39%. The proportion of drug cost and material cost decreased by 4.27 and 1.78 percentage points respectively, the proportion of laboratory tests and examinations cost increased by 3.15 and 3.98 percentage points respectively. Changes in the proportion of expenses reflecting the value of technical labor services, such as surgery, treatment, diagnosis and nursing, were all less than 0.60 percentage points. Since 2017, the business expenditure of the hospital had exceeded the income. The proportion of drug income reduced due to " drug zero price gap" policy compensated by medical service income had decreased from 82.00% in 2015 to 58.63% in 2019, and 66.82% of medical service items were defective items. In addition to type 2 diabetes, the actual charges of the 9 main " list" diseases were lower than the standard cost accounting values.Conclusions:After the comprehensive reform of medical price, there may be a large revenue/expenditure gap in a short term, and the cost may be higher than the charges. When formulating the comprehensive reform policy of regional pharmaceutical prices, we should consider the superposition effect of the policies implemented in the same period, and strengthen the short-term financial responsiveness, to provide space for public hospitals to gradually adapt to the reform.

Literature review on influence of case-based payment on hospitalization costs / 中华医院管理杂志

Objective To systematic review the influence of case-based payment on inpatient costs since China′s new medical reform. Methods Studies about inpatient costs before and after the implementation of case-based payment were collected. The literature collected underwent a meta-analysis by RevMan 5. 0. Results A total of 11 articles in compliance were included in the study. The meta-analysis of random effect model showed the overall effect size (SMD) was -1. 54 with 95% CI being -1. 79, -1. 29, showing a significant difference (P<0. 05). The subgroup analysis showed that the overall effect size (MD) in the low-cost disease group was -585. 57 yuan with 95% CI being -750. 34, -420. 80, showing a significant difference (P < 0. 05). The overall effect size (MD) in the high-cost disease group was-4 172.65 yuan with 95% CI being -5 368. 21, -2 977. 10, showing a significant difference ( P <0.05). The funnel plot was approximately symmetrical, suggesting a publication bias as less likely in the study. Conclusions The implementation of case-based payment has reduced the inpatient costs to some extent thanks to China′s new healthcare reform. And the effect in the high-cost disease group was more obvious than that in the low-cost disease group.

Discussions on case-based payment practice in China and the overseas DRGs experiences / 中华医院管理杂志

Discussed in the paper are case-based payment practice in China,and outcomes of this practice for the past ten years.The authors pointed out that compared with DRGs,such a practice is exposed to such risks as low coverage of diseases,incompatible policies,defective pricing method,and lack of comprehensive evaluation.It indicates that China is on the initial stage of case-based payment reform which should be promoted with reference to international experiences.

Study on the cognition status of implementing case-based payment policy among healthcare providers:A case in Chengdu, Sichuan Province / 中国卫生政策研究

Objective:To understand the implementation status of case-based payment among healthcare provid-ers and their cognition on the matter. Methods:Semi-structured interview was conducted on 30 purposely selected staff from 9 hospitals in Chengdu. Results:After one-year implementation of case-based payment, hospitals at different level carried out the policy vigorously:executed corresponding expense control measures and management. Neverthe-less, the proportion of cases that were paid with case-based payment was low, moreover the inclusion criteria for case was of disunity and the formulation of the expense standard was ambiguous to some extent. Conclusion:Certain achievements were accompanied with problems, so it is essential to refine reimbursement standards, improve case-based payment, make clear the inclusion criteria for case and extend the covering range of case-based payment in Chengdu. In addition, the medical insurance agency should strengthen the supervision of healthcare providers,and guide them to set up effective incentive mechanism.