Health resource allocation within the close-knit medical consortium after the Luohu healthcare reform in China: efficiency, productivity, and influencing factors.

Objective: This study aims to assess the efficiency and productivity of the Luohu Hospital Group after the reform and to identify factors influencing the efficiency to support the future development of medical consortia. Methods: Data on health resources from Shenzhen and the Luohu Hospital Group for the years 2015 to 2021 were analyzed using the super-efficiency slack-based measure data envelopment analysis (SE-SBM-DEA) model, Malmquist productivity index (MPI), and Tobit regression to evaluate changes in efficiency and productivity and to identify determinants of efficiency post-reform. Results: After the reform, the efficiency of health resource allocation within the Luohu Hospital Group improved by 33.87%. Community health centers (CHCs) within the group had an average efficiency score of 1.046. Moreover, the Luohu Hospital Group's average total factor productivity change (TFPCH) increased by 2.5%, primarily due to gains in technical efficiency change (EFFCH), which offset declines in technical progress change (TECHCH). The efficiency scores of CHCs were notably affected by the ratio of general practitioners (GPs) to health technicians and the availability of home hospital beds. Conclusion: The reform in the Luohu healthcare system has shown preliminary success, but continuous monitoring is necessary. Future strategies should focus on strengthening technological innovation, training GPs, and implementing the home hospital bed policy. These efforts will optimize the efficiency of health resource allocation and support the integration and development of resources within the medical consortium.

A cross domain access control model for medical consortium based on DBSCAN and penalty function.

BACKGROUND: Graded diagnosis and treatment, referral, and expert consultations between medical institutions all require cross domain access to patient medical information to support doctors' treatment decisions, leading to an increase in cross domain access among various medical institutions within the medical consortium. However, patient medical information is sensitive and private, and it is essential to control doctors' cross domain access to reduce the risk of leakage. Access control is a continuous and long-term process, and it first requires verification of the legitimacy of user identities, while utilizing control policies for selection and management. After verifying user identity and access permissions, it is also necessary to monitor unauthorized operations. Therefore, the content of access control includes authentication, implementation of control policies, and security auditing. Unlike the existing focus on authentication and control strategy implementation in access control, this article focuses on the control based on access log security auditing for doctors who have obtained authorization to access medical resources. This paper designs a blockchain based doctor intelligent cross domain access log recording system, which is used to record, query and analyze the cross domain access behavior of doctors after authorization. Through DBSCAN clustering analysis of doctors' cross domain access logs, we find the abnormal phenomenon of cross domain access, and build a penalty function to dynamically control doctors' cross domain access process, so as to reduce the risk of Data breach. Finally, through comparative analysis and experiments, it is shown that the proposed cross domain access control model for medical consortia based on DBSCAN and penalty function has good control effect on the cross domain access behavior of doctors in various medical institutions of the medical consortia, and has certain feasibility for the cross domain access control of doctors.

Does integrated health management within a county medical consortium improve rural type 2 diabetic patients' self-management behavior and quality of life? An empirical analysis from Eastern China.

BACKGROUND: Levels of self-management behaviors (SMB) and quality of life (QoL) are suboptimal in Chinese adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D), especially in rural China. Integrated health management within a county medical consortium, featuring multi-level teams of doctors, nurses, and other professionals offering follow-up services such as check-ups, assessments, treatment, and health education, is promising in improving this. This study aimed to assess the effect of integrated health management within a county medical consortium on the SMB and QoL of rural T2D patients in China. METHODS: Based on a survey conducted on the county medical consortium in Eastern China, this study initially employed propensity score matching (PSM), a nonparametric technique, to precisely estimate the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) of integrated health management on SMB and QoL in rural T2D patients. Subsequently, quantile regression was also performed to estimate the relationship between the implementation of integrated health management, sociodemographic factors, follow-up services (offered during integrated health management) and both SMB and QoL. RESULTS: The ATT values for SMB and QoL, representing the net effect of integrated health management within a county medical consortium on SMB and QoL, were significantly positive. They ranged from 4.34 to 4.67 for SMB and from 0.89 to 1.06 for QoL, respectively, based on the four different PSM modalities. The results of quantile regression also revealed a statistically significant positive association between the implementation of integrated health management and both SMB (coef. = 4.15) and QoL (coef. = 1.54). These findings suggest that integrated health management within a county medical consortium can effectively improve SMB and QoL in rural T2D patients. Furthermore, frequency of follow-up service and health behavior guidance were positively associated with SMB and QoL. Conversely, on-call follow-up services, medication guidance and follow-up services at medical institutions were negatively correlated with SMB or QoL. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlights the effectiveness of integrated health management within a county medical consortium in improving SMB and QoL among individuals with T2D in rural China. The findings offer invaluable insights for the advancement of chronic disease management in rural areas of developing countries.

Differences in influencing mechanism of clinicians' adoption behavior for liver cancer screening technology between the leading and subordinate hospitals within medical consortiums.

BACKGROUND: Medical consortiums have been extensively established to facilitate the integration of health resources and bridge the technical gap among member institutions. However, some commonly appropriate technologies remain stagnant in subordinate hospitals, although they have been routinely applied in leading hospitals. Besides, the mechanism underlying differences in clinicians' adoption behavior at different levels of institutions was unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the differences in influencing mechanisms of clinicians' hepatic contrast-enhanced ultrasound technology (CEUS) utilization behavior between leading and subordinate hospitals within medical consortiums, thus providing clues for expanding effective and appropriate technologies within integrated care systems. METHODS: A self-designed scale was developed based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). A multistage sampling method was applied to investigate clinicians who were aware of CEUS and worked in liver disease-related departments within the sampled medical institutions. The final sample size was 289. AMOS 24.0 software was used to construct multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) to validate the hypotheses and determine the mechanism of hepatic CEUS utilization. RESULTS: It revealed that behavioral intention significantly influenced adoption behavior, regardless of whether it was in leading hospitals or subordinate hospitals (ß = 0.283, p < 0.001). Furthermore, behavioral attitude (ß = 0.361, p < 0.001) and perceived behavioral control (ß = 0.582, p < 0.001) exerted significant effects on adoption behavior through behavioral intention. However, in leading hospitals, subjective norm had a significant positive effect on behavioral intention (ß = 0.183, p < 0.01), while it had a significant negative impact on behavioral intention in the subordinate hospitals (ß = -0.348, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: To effectively translate the adoption intention into actual behavior, it is recommended to elucidate the demand and facilitators involved in the process of health technology adoption across leading and subordinate hospitals. Additionally, bolstering technical support and knowledge dissemination within subordinate hospitals while harnessing the influential role of key individuals can further enhance this transformative process.

Effects of medical consortium policy on health services: an interrupted time-series analysis in Sanming, China.

Objectives: China has implemented reforms to enhance the operational efficiency of three-level medical services through medical consortiums (MCs). This study evaluated the impact of MCs reform on health services in Sanming, China. Methods: An interrupted time-series analysis (ITSA) was conducted to assess the impact of MCs on changes in health service levels and trends across the overall situation of MCs and different institutional types within MCs, including county hospitals and grassroots medical institutions. The evaluation focused on various indicators such as outpatient and emergency visits, inpatients, average length of stay, occupancy rate of hospital beds, and hospital bed turnover times. Monthly data were collected from April 2015 to June 2019 through reports on the Sanming Municipal Health Commission website and the Sanming public hospital management monitoring platform. Results: After the intervention of MCs reform, a significant increase was observed in the total number of inpatients (ß3 = 174.28, p < 0.05). However, no statistically significant change was observed in the total number of outpatient and emergency visits (ß3 = 155.82, p = 0.91). Additionally, the implementation of MCs reform led to an amplification in service volumes provided by county hospitals, with significant increases in the number of outpatient and emergency visits (ß3 = 1376.54, p < 0.05) and an upward trend in the number of inpatients (ß3 = 98.87, p < 0.01). However, no significant changes were observed under the MCs policy for grassroots medical institutions regarding the number of outpatient and emergency visits (ß3 = -1220.72, p = 0.22) and number of inpatients (ß3 = 75.42, p = 0.09). Conclusion: The Sanming MCs reform has achieved some progress in augmenting service volumes. Nevertheless, it has not led to an increase in service volumes at the grassroots medical institutions. There persists an insufficiency in the efficiency of services and a need for further improvement in primary healthcare. To address these concerns, it is imperative for county hospitals to offer targeted assistance that can enhance motivation among grassroots medical institutions. Besides the MCs should explore initiatives, including improved management of medical equipment, allocation of funding, and personnel resources.

Understanding the Integrated Health Management System Policy in China From Multiple Perspectives: Systematic Review and Content Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The integrated health management system (IHMS), which unites all health care-related institutions under a health-centered organizational framework, is of great significance to China in promoting the hierarchical treatment system and improving the new health care reform. China's IHMS policy consists of multiple policies at different levels and at different times; however, there is a lack of comprehensive interpretation and analysis of these policies, which is not conducive to the further development of the IHMS in China. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to comprehensively analyze and understand the characteristics, development, and evolution of China's IHMS policy to inform the design and improvement of the system. METHODS: We followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines to collect 152 policy documents. With the perspective of policy tools and policy orientation as the core, a comprehensive 6D framework including policy level, policy nature, release time, policy tools, stakeholders, and policy orientation was established by combining the content of policy texts. These dimensions were then analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: First, we found that, regarding the coordination of policy tools and stakeholders, China's IHMS policy was more inclined to use environment-based policy tools (1089/1929, 56.45%), which suggests a need for further balance in the internal structure of policy tools. Attention to different actors varied, and the participation of physicians and residents needs further improvement (65/2019, 3.22% and 11/2019, 0.54%, respectively). Second, in terms of level differences, Shanghai's IHMS policy used fewer demand-based policy tools (43/483, 8.9%), whereas the national IHMS policy and those of other provinces and cities used fewer supply-based tools (61/357, 17.1% and 248/357, 69.5%, respectively). The national IHMS strategy placed more emphasis on the construction of smart health care (including digital health; 10/275, 3.6%), whereas Shanghai was a leader in the development of healthy community and healthy China (9/158, 5.7% and 4/158, 2.5%, respectively). Third, in terms of time evolution, the various policy tools showed an increasing and then decreasing trend from 2014 to 2021, with relatively more use of environment-based policy tools and less use of demand-based policy tools in the last 3 years. The growth of China's IHMS policy can be divided into 3 stages: the disease-centered period (2014-2017), the e-health technology development period (2017-2019), and the health-centered period (2018-2021). CONCLUSIONS: Policy makers should make several adjustments, such as coordinating policy tools and the uneven relationships among stakeholders; grasping key policy priorities in the context of local characteristics; and focusing on horizontal, multidimensional integration of health resources starting from the community. This study expands the objects of policy research and improves the framework for policy analysis. The findings provide some possible lessons for future policy formulation and optimization.

Current situation and improvement strategies of semen testing in hospitals without developing assisted reproductive technolo-gy in Hunan province / 临床检验杂志

Objective To investigate the current status of semen testing in the hospitals without assisted reproductive technology in Hu-nan Province,propose improvement strategies to enhance the diagnosis of male infertility and promote reproductive health services in these hospitals.Methods Questionnaire surveys and on-site investigations were conducted to examine the semen testing status in 67 hospitals without assisted reproductive technology in Hunan Province.The existing problems were summarized,and improvement strate-gies were suggested.Results Among the 67 hospitals,59.7％(40/67)performed semen testing.Of these,45％(18/40)possessed dedicated personnel,60％(24/40)possessed staff received relevant training,and 22.5％(9/40)held certificates.Only 30％(12/40)conducted sperm morphology testing,among them 20％(8/40)able to stain and interpret following WHO standards.The hospitals of 37.5％(15/40)used computer-assisted sperm analysis(CASA)systems,and 22.5％(9/40)were equipped with phase-contrast microscopes.30％(12/40)had dedicated examination areas,and 32.5％(13/40)had independent ejaculation rooms,17.5％(7/40)used disposable slides to observe sperm concentration.In 2022,the hospitals of 57.5％(23/40)had an average daily sample volume＜1.The hospital of 67.5％(27/40)performed standard operating procedures,40％(16/40)followed the WHO 5th la-boratory manual for routine testing,15％(6/40)conducted internal quality control,and 12.5％(5/40)participated in external quali-ty assessment(EQA).Another 55％(22/40)wished to participate in EQA.Conclusion The semen testing capacity in the hospitals,in which assisted reproductive technology is not yet carried out currently,urgently requiring multifaceted improvements.The proposed strategies include emphasizing semen testing,establishing reproductive medicine consortia for comprehensive support,establishing a provincial quality control center for EQA,founding a professional committee for a learning platform,offering training to enhance staff expertise,and including the pre-pregnancy semen testing in public health programs.

Practice and thoughts of pediatric continuing education under information technology-aided medical consortium model / 中华医学教育探索杂志

To create flexible and high-quality pediatric continuing education opportunities, the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine has developed an online teaching system based on the medical consortium information system, mobile application, and website, which includes "5G+" digital classroom for case teaching, hierarchical diagnosis and treatment tracking, mobile courses, and live interactive lectures about difficult medical cases as support extensions of offline training. From 2020 to 2023, over 9 000 people participated in online activities. The results of questionnaire survey, theoretical examination, and semi-structured interview showed that the members of the medical consortium were satisfied with the training content and effect of the online medical continuing education model; medical personnel's theoretical levels were improved after training; the interviewees believed that online training was flexible and convenient with regard to time, location, and space, with positive impact for improving clinical ability and personal development. However, the online form cannot yet replace the traditional refresher training completely. In the future, we will establish a unified evaluation and assessment mechanism, form a standardized management system, and introduce advanced technologies, so as to encourage enthusiastic and effective participation, and promote the rational and efficient use of medical education resources.

Investigation and analysis of pharmaceutical management in compact medical consortium of Guangdong province / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To investigate the current situation of pharmaceutical management in compact medical consortium of Guangdong province， and to provide decision-making basis for promoting the high-quality construction and sustainable development of the provincial medical consortium. METHODS A self-designed questionnaire was used to select 50 compact medical consortiums in Guangdong province. The survey was answered by the heads of the pharmacy department of the general hospitals. The survey covered the basic scale of the consortium， the appointment of chief pharmacists， the implementation of pharmaceutical management and pharmaceutical care homogenization within the consortium， the difficulties in promoting the homogenization， and the expected provincial support. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the survey results. RESULTS A total of 50 questionnaires were collected， and the effective recovery rate was 100%. There were 16 chief pharmacists （32.00%） in charge of the pharmacy department of the general hospital in the medical consortium. Thirty-seven medical consortiums （74.00%） had established a drug supply support system within the consortium， 35 medical consortiums （70.00%） had carried out pharmaceutical management and coordination work within the medical consortium， 23 medical consortiums （46.00%） had established a clinical medication guidance system， 25 medical consortiums chenwenying2016@163.com （50.00%） had established a bidirectional communication mechanism， and only 8 medical consortiums （16.00%） had developed new models of pharmaceutical care. At present， the difficulties in promoting the homogenization of pharmaceutical management and pharmaceutical care within the medical consortium were mainly found in three aspects： the wide gap in management level of each member unit， the lack and uneven level of pharmaceutical personnel， and insufficient policy support and implementation. Most medical consortiums hoped that relevant departments could promote the homogenization of pharmaceutical work by holding special training courses or special supervision. CONCLUSIONS At present， the compact medical consortium in Guangdong province has achieved initial results in the implementation of the chief pharmacist system， the homogenization of pharmaceutical management and pharmaceutical care. However， it is still necessary to improve the coverage of chief pharmacist appointments in the medical consortium， implement the homogenization of pharmaceutical management， and accelerate the homogenization process of pharmaceutical care.

Key Elements and Development Trends in the Construction of Medical Groups in Tight Cities in China / 中国医院管理

The construction of compact urban medical groups has been carried out in 81 pilot cities,and whether the pilot work can form useful experiences that can be replicated depends on the grasp of key elements and develop-ment trends.It proposes that the key elements in the construction of a compact urban medical group include the le-gal status of the compact urban medical group,the distribution of rights and responsibilities between the compact medical group and local health administrative departments,the structure and integrated operation mechanism of the compact urban medical group,the demarcation between the city medical group and one hospital and multiple dis-tricts,and the evaluation of health benefits.Under the background of the superposition of healthy China and digital China construction,China's urban medical group has five significant development trends including new development models led by the digital revolution,diversifying development models oriented to demand,emphasizing the coopera-tion mechanism based on value inclusion and benefit sharing,and promoting the further strengthening of medical and prevention integration and the effectiveness evaluation shifts to results-oriented indicators.

Analysis of Public Interests and Economic Interests in the Construction of Urban Medical Groups / 中国医院管理

The construction of urban medical groups is an important supply-side reform and exploration of Chinese urban health service system.It analyzes and discusses the interest generation mechanism,the dialectical relationship between public interests and economic interests and the balancing strategy of urban medical group construction,and proposes that the construction of urban medical groups mainly generates new value through comprehensive medical care,large-scale development,homogeneous services,digital construction and technology innovation,which can bring about optimizing the allocation of medical treatment resources,improving the homogeneity level and innovation ability of regional medical services,and strengthening regional primary medical services and other public interests.It can also bring about improvements in service efficiency,capacity and volume,which in turn generate economic benefits.The pursuit of public and economic interests in the construction of urban medical groups has potential value conflicts in terms of service positioning,cost and accessibility,effectiveness and rationality,and at the same time,there is a synergy mechanism in fulfilling social responsibilities,optimizing the utilization of medical resources,and promoting medical innovation and high-quality development.In the pilot construction of urban medical groups,public interests and economic interests should be viewed dialectically,the role of local governments in policy guidance,supervision and incentives should be explored,a focus on resource optimization,innovation-driven or high-quality development to promote the synergy of public interests and economic interests should be emphasized,and public participation should be strengthened and a performance evaluation mechanism should be established.

Perceived knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding the medical consortium among medical staff in Sichuan, China: a cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: In China, fragmented and inefficient health care systems are common while quality resources are limited. To promote an organized, efficient system, the government launched a medical consortium policy to vertically integrate health care through the collaboration of different levels of medical care. Logically, medical staff's knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding the consortium are critical for its development. The objective of this study was to explore the KAP regarding the medical consortium among medical staff in a medical consortium in Sichuan Province, China. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted. In total, 690 medical staff members in 3 cities of Sichuan Province, China, were interviewed from November 2018 to December 2018. The questionnaire consisted of 18 items, including 4 items related to perceived knowledge, 4 items related to attitudes and 2 items related to practices, and was rated on a 5-point Likert scale (one = strongly disagree/do not know, five = strongly agree/know). RESULTS: The effective response sample was 640 copies of the questionnaire, and most medical staff members (92.50%) knew about the cooperation with other hospitals in the medical consortium. Medical staff scored differently on each item in the questionnaire, with the highest score being the item 'agreeing with the ward rounds and clinical teaching and training organized by the leading hospital' (4.54 ± 0.76), and the lowest score being the item 'frequency in participating in ward rounds and clinical teaching organized by the leading hospital' (2.83 ± 1.36). In addition, the effect of demographic characteristics on KAP was evaluated by stepwise multiple regression analysis, and a significant positive correlation was found between all the studied variables by Spearman's correlation (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the attitudes toward and knowledge of the medical consortium significantly contribute to practices, satisfaction with the support work performed by the leading hospital and agreement of improvement after joining the medical consortium. Thus, to improve medical staff's KAP and satisfaction, publicity and educational programs in medical consortia are necessary, and the leading hospital should attach importance to the informatization construction and demand of different medical staff members. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: There are no clinical trials in this study.

Predictors of referral behaviour and intention amongst physicians in a medical consortium based on the theory of planned behaviour: a cross-sectional study in China.

Introduction: To promote patients' referral across healthcare institutions and integrated care delivery, we identified predictors of physicians' behaviour and intention to refer patients in a county medical consortium in China on the basis of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Methods: This census-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Yangxi Hospital Group (YHG). All physicians in county hospitals and township health centres were invited to participate. Structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the relationships between referral intention and behaviour and other TPB variables in the group of whole participants and in sub-groups. Results: In total, 330 physicians participated in this study. One-third of participants were general practitioners, and half of them were from county hospitals. Referral behaviour of females (χ2 = 20.372, p < 0.001), who had lower education levels (χ2 = 17.859, p = 0.001), lower professional title (χ2 = 14.963, p = 0.005), and lower monthly salary (χ2 = 33.753, p < 0.001) were less frequent than the others. Among them, 116 (35.2%), 108 (32.7%), and 106 (32.1%) respondents reported that they had never referred patients, had referred patients 1-9 times, and had referred patients over 10 times during the past 3 months, respectively. The mean score of referral intention was 4.23/5 (SD = 0.71). In the model with all participants, a stronger referral intention (ß = 0.218, 95% CI = 0.080-0.356) was associated with more frequent referral behaviour. The subjective norm (ß = 0.703, 95% CI = 0.590-0.817) was the strongest predictor of physicians' referral intention, followed by perceived behavioural control (ß = 0.234, 95% CI = 0.090-0.378). Mediated by referral intention, subjective norms (ß = 0.153, p < 0.01) and perceived behavioural control (ß = 0.190, p < 0.01) had significant indirect effects on physicians' referral behaviour. The model with participants in county hospitals showed similar results to the model with all participants. Meanwhile, in the model with participants in township health centres, there were no significant associations between referral behaviour and other TPB constructs. Conclusion: Physicians' referral behaviour was influenced by intention, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control in Chinese county hospitals.

Construction and implementation effect of pressure injury nursing linkage platform under the medical consortium model in athletic patients

Purpose: To discover the training effectiveness of community nurses' cognition of pressure injury on the nursing linkage Methods: Guided by KAP (Knowledge, Attitude and Practice) Theory, and under the background of medical consortium in our hospital, we built a pressure injury nursing linkage platform dominated by mobile learning, supplemented by offline guidance and sharing of high-quality resources in the hospital, and trained 66 clinical nurses in 6 community health service centers of the medical consortium The theoretical knowledge, attitude, and clinical care behavior questionnaire of community nurses with pressure injury were surveyed after 18 months of platform operation and measured nurses' satisfaction with the platform and self- Results: The theoretical knowledge, attitude, and clinical nursing behavior of 66 community nurses with pressure The theoretical knowledge, attitude, and clinical nursing behavior of 66 community nurses with pressure injury compared before and after the platform operation, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) ; Satisfaction with the platform was 91% for 5 items; Among the 10 items of self-evaluation of community nurses, the highest percentage of "agree" was to gain new knowledge and Among the 10 items of self-evaluation of community nurses, the highest percentage of "agree" was to gain new knowledge and change philosophy, which was 100%. And 80% of the nurses agreed that they would change their incorrect nursing behaviors after the training. (AU)

Construction and implementation effect of pressure injury nursing linkage platform for improved care of athletic patients

Purpose: To discover the training effectiveness of community nurses' cognition of pressure injury on the nursing linkage. Methods: Guided by KAP (Knowledge, Attitude and Practice) Theory, and under the background of medical consortium in our hospital, we built a pressure injury nursing linkage platform dominated by mobile learning, supplemented by offline guidance and sharing of high-quality resources in the hospital, and trained 66 clinical nurses in 6 community health service centers of the medical consortium The theoretical knowledge, attitude, and clinical care behavior questionnaire of community nurses with pressure injury were surveyed after 18 months of platform operation and measured nurses' satisfaction with the platform and self. Results: The theoretical knowledge, attitude, and clinical nursing behavior of 66 community nurses with pressure The theoretical knowledge, attitude, and clinical nursing behavior of 66 community nurses with pressure injury compared before and after the platform operation, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) ; Satisfaction with the platform was 91% for 5 items; Among the 10 items of self-evaluation of community nurses, the highest percentage of "agree" was to gain new knowledge and Among the 10 items of self-evaluation of community nurses, the highest percentage of "agree" was to gain new knowledge and change philosophy, which was 100%. And 80% of the nurses agreed that they would change their incorrect nursing behaviors after the training. (AU)

Effectiveness of hierarchical medical system policy: an interrupted time series analysis of a pilot scheme in China.

The Chinese healthcare system faces a dilemma between its hospital-centric approach to healthcare delivery and a rapidly ageing population that requires strong primary care. To improve system efficiency and continuity of care, the Hierarchical Medical System (HMS) policy package was issued in November 2014 and fully implemented in 2015 in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the HMS on the local healthcare system. We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study with quarterly data collected between 2010 and 2018 from Yinzhou district, Ningbo. The data were analysed with an interrupted time series design to assess the impact of HMS on the changes in levels and trends of three outcome variables: primary care physicians' (PCPs') patient encounter ratio (i.e. the mean quarterly number of patient encounters of PCPs divided by that of all other physicians), PCP degree ratio (i.e. the mean degree of PCPs divided by the mean degree of all other physicians, with the mean degree revealing the mean activity and popularity of physicians, which reflected the extent to which he/she coordinated with others in delivering health services), and PCP betweenness centrality ratio (i.e. the mean betweenness centrality of PCPs divided by the mean betweenness centrality of all other physicians; the mean betweenness centrality was interpreted as the mean relative importance of physicians within the network, indicating the centrality of the network). Observed results were compared with counterfactual scenarios computed based on pre-HMS trends. Between January 2010 and December 2018, 272 267 patients visited doctors for hypertension, a representative non-communicable disease with a high prevalence of 44.7% among adults aged 35-75 years, amounting to a total of 9 270 974 patient encounters. We analysed quarterly data of 45 464 observations over 36 time points. Compared to the counterfactual, by the fourth quarter of 2018, the PCP patient encounter ratio rose by 42.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 27.1-58.2, P < 0.001], the PCP degree ratio increased by 23.6% (95%CI: 8.6-38.5, P < 0.01) and the PCP betweenness centrality ratio grew by 129.4% (95%CI: 87.1-171.7, P < 0.001). The HMS policy can incentivize patients to visit primary care facilities and enhance the centrality of PCPs within their professional network.

Vertical Integration of Electronic Health Records in Medical Consortiums: Dynamic Modeling Approach Based on the Evolutionary Game Theory.

BACKGROUND: China has continuously issued policies to speed up the interconnection, mutual recognition, sharing of medical information systems, and data integration management across regions and institutions. However, the vertical integration of electronic health records (EHRs) within the medical consortium is hampered by "poor mechanism and insufficient motivation" and the phenomenon of "free riding" among participating medical institutions, which makes the integration less effective. OBJECTIVE: We hope to clarify the game mechanism of stakeholders in the vertical integration of EHRs, and put forward targeted policy suggestions for improvement. METHODS: We constructed the "government-hospital-patient" tripartite evolutionary game model based on the detailed analysis of the research problems and their assumptions. We then simulated the game strategies and outcomes of each participant using the system dynamics approach to reveal the long-term strategy evolution mechanism of the core participants in the vertical integration of EHRs in the medical consortium, as well as the influencing factors and action mechanisms of each party's strategy evolution to provide references for improving relevant policies. RESULTS: The evolutionary game system could eventually reach an optimal equilibrium, but in areas where the government was required to be in a dominant position, patient supervision was necessary to have a positive role, while a reasonable reward and punishment mechanism can promote active participation of hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: The effective way to achieve the goal of vertical integration of EHRs in the medical consortium is to build a multiagent coordination mechanism under the guidance of the government. Meanwhile, it is necessary to establish a scientific integration performance evaluation mechanism, a reward and punishment mechanism, and a benefit distribution mechanism to promote the healthy development of vertical integration of EHRs in medical consortiums.

Key influencing factors of vertical integration of electronic health records in medical consortiums.

BACKGROUND: Similar to other countries around the world, China has incorporated the recording of electronic health data into its national strategy. After the completion of the decentralized construction phase, the construction of electronic health records in China has reached the stages of integration, sharing, and utilization. "Vertical integration" is the premise and foundation of "shared utilization" of electronic health records within the medical consortium, but it is also a bottleneck in realizing this goal. OBJECTIVE: The main purpose of this paper is to find out the key factors affecting the vertical integration of electronic health records in the medical consortiums, and to clarify the impact mechanism of these key factors, so as to provide reference for improving relevant policies. METHODS: In this study, an index system of influencing factors is established for cross-institutional vertical integration of electronic health records within a medical consortium, identifying key influencing factors using the combined fuzzy-DEMATEL-ASIM method and revealing the influence relationship and action mechanism among the key influencing factors using a multi-layer hierarchical influence structure model. RESULTS: There are 32 factors influencing the vertical integration of electronic health records in the medical consortium, 17 of which are key factors. According to the hierarchical structure of key influencing factors, they can be divided into three categories: surface-level factors, middle-level factors and deep-level factors. CONCLUSIONS: In practice, these key factors should be prioritized for improvement and optimization to promote integration projects. In the future, we should focus on key influencing factors to precisely implement policies, such as introducing special promotion policies, unifying development planning, changing health insurance payment methods, establishing sharing standards, and raising public awareness.

Study on the construction of comprehensive evaluation index system of integrated health management and service ability of the close-knit medical consortium / 中国卫生政策研究

Objective:To construct a comprehensive evaluation index system for integrated health management service capacity of the close-knit medical consortium,and to provide an effective evaluation tool for promoting the construction of a close-knit medical consortium in China.Methods:Based on service chain theory,the initial index pool is established from four dimensions of service guarantee,service guidance,service provision and service evaluation through policy analysis,literature reading and field investigation.Delphi method is used to improve the evaluation indicators through two rounds of expert consultation,and the analytic hierarchy process is used to determine the weight of each indicator.Results:The constructed index system consists of 4 first-class indicators,11 second-class indicators and 50 third-class indicators.The weights of service guarantee,service guidance,service provision and service evaluation are 0.133,0.301,0.401 and 0.165 respectively.Conclusions:Based on the service chain theory,this study applies Delphi expert consultation method and the analytic hierarchy process and invites experts in relevant fields to carry out consultation,aiming at constructing a comprehensive evaluation index system for the integrated health management service capacity of the close-knit medical consortium with strong operability and scientific rationality,and providing an effective evaluation tool for promoting the construction of the close-knit medical consortium in China.

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Patient navigation is an effective intervention measure to promote the integration of medical systems and services. By providing individualized, coordinated, and continuous care, patient navigation offers a way to address the problem of fragmented services across institutions and levels of care in the whole-process management of lung cancer, providing assistance to patients with complex healthcare needs. Herein, we reviewed the origin, the development, the models, and the application status of patient navigation in China and other countries. We also analyzed the considerations regarding introducing patient navigation in the whole-process management of lung cancer against the background of medical consortiums in China, discussing why patient navigation should be introduced, how to introduce patient navigation, as well as potential challenges and coping strategies. Patient navigation meets the current needs for equitable, accessible, systematic, continuous, and integrated prevention and treatment services for chronic diseases in the context of the Healthy China Strategy. It helps fill the gaps in the continuity and coordination of whole-process management of lung cancer patients in the context of medical consortiums. However, introducing patient navigation in medical consortiums involving multiple institutions and levels of care may face challenges, including incompatibility between the health information systems of different institutions, poor cross-institutional collaboration and communication, and limited resources. Further improvement is needed in medical informatization, coordination and communication mechanisms, and benefit distribution mechanisms within the medical consortiums. In this paper, we intend to provide insights and suggestions for developing patient navigation models that suit China's local characteristics and for promoting the implementation and development of whole-process management of lung cancer in the context of the medical consortium system.