Impact of financial subsidy on business operations at county-level public hospitals / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To learn the business operations of the pilot county-level public hospitals chosen for the 2014 experiment,which were subsidized at different levels in the financial subsidy mechanism reform.Methods County-level public hospitals from 109 counties were sampled as pilots from two provinces of the eastern,central and western regions of China.Descriptive analysis and correlation analysis were made to study their business operations at various subsidy levels.Results Proportional differences in the governmental financial subsidy level make a difference in the revenue and expenditure of county-level public hospitals.The higher the subsidy proportion,the lower the annual average of the total workload of the hospital(P <0.01),the less the inpatient expenditure per hospitalization(P =0.01),and the lower the drug proportion as well(P <0.01 ).Conclusions Financial subsidy plays a key role in the financial balance and business operation of such hospitals.Hence the government is proposed to guarantee its financial subsidy responsibility,to build a long-term financial subsidy mechanism.