Medicare Reform at the Grassroots Level

Insight China

Issue No. 33, 2018

Medical reform is a worldwide challenge. But it’s even more challenging for China since it has the largest population in the world. When almost the whole population is covered by the national healthcare system, ensuring basic services at the grassroots level is particularly important. In this respect, raising the professional skills of medical practitioners at the county level to a level that patients with critical diseases do not need to be transferred to a higher-level hospital for treatment is the major task lying ahead.

From 2012 to the present day, the comprehensive reform in public hospitals at county level has undergone three phases. The number of pilot counties has increased from 311 to 1,063. The reform of medical services, health insurance, and the medicine industry has been advanced in a coordinated manner. All county-level public hospitals are required to phase out surcharges on prescribed medicine.

On September 27, the National Health Commission held a conference in Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, to discuss the comprehensive reforms of county-level public hospitals. At the conference, hospital representatives from several provinces shared their experiences in medicare reform. The process of making medical reforms takes time, but great strides in the right direction are being made.