Definition methods and standards on medical assistance objects of catastrophic diseases systems based on catastrophic health expenditure perspective / 中华医院管理杂志

Objective To explore the methods and standards of catastrophic health expenditure for China,and improve the operability in defining those impoverished due to diseases.Methods 600 households with inpatients were randomly sampled from 12 villages of three townships in City M in Hubei province for household survey.Literature review and expert consultation methods were used to measure and determine the threshold of catastrophic health expenditure( CHE) of City M,with improvements made by grouping.Results In a uniform standard,the CHE occurrence of the income method and expenditure method is lower than the non-existence expenditure method and WHO method,verifying theoretically that the standard set for the former should be higher than the latter.In addition,the income method and expenditure method present differently in China.Standards set should vary with different measurement methods,maintaining approximate CEH expenditure for the same region.For the income method and expenditure method,the recommended benchmark reference is 25%,with an adjustable range of 35%~45%.Mutual verifications of these methods can further determine a rational CHE value.Conclusions The CHE methods support the definition of people impoverished due to diseases beyond their household payment capacity.Different thresholds however should be set for different methods,and the relative standards should be translated into absolute standards by grouping.

The method of defining poverty caused by illness in catastrophic diseases medical assistance systems: A case study of M City in Hubei Province / 中国卫生政策研究

Objective: In order to validate the effectiveness of methods of defining poverty caused by illness which are based on catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishment health expenditure, originated from relative costs theory.Results: This paper uses empirical approach to explore the definition methods by comparing the original methods with modified methods and defined population with the actual situation of poverty alleviation.Results: Study results show that the catastrophic health expenditures incurred ratio is about 20% and shows the aggregation of both low-income and high-income groups.The impoverishment health expenditure incurred ratio is about 12% and they mainly are families at the edge of poverty line.This study found that 70% of the families defined based on our method did not receive medical assistance in reality.Conclusion: Therefore, the definition methods based on relative costs theory are of great value in Chinese medical assistance systems for defining poverty caused by illness.Grouping based on household ability to pay could improve the methods' operability and effectiveness.