Medical reform to go deep in 2018

The State Council issued a notice on Aug 28, delivering major medical reform tasks for the rest of the year. It urged provincial governments and State Council departments to carry these out conscientiously.

One of the tasks is to build a sound tiered diagnosis and treatment model. The medical care combination system involving multiple levels of hospitals should be improved with a comprehensive assessment method for the performance of the tiered diagnosis and treatment model.

Privately-run healthcare institutes should be welcomed in the medical care combination system, and contracted family doctor services should be boosted with a better incentive mechanism.

Constructing a modern hospital management system is highlighted as another major task. According to the notice, reforms in healthcare services and the salary system of public hospitals will be deepened.

The State Council also called for promoting the health insurance system. Insurance covering basic healthcare and critical illness will be elevated. The per capita government subsidies for basic health insurance will be increased by 40 yuan ($6.30), half of which will be used for the serious disease insurance plan.

In addition, the healthcare insurance cross-provincial settlement system should be thoroughly carried out, with more designated medical institutes involved.

Commercial healthcare insurance will be further encouraged, according to the notice.

More efforts will be made on promoting the medicine supply system. Each provincial region should follow the tax-reduction policy for anti-cancer drugs, conduct centralized procurement of anti-cancer drugs listed in the medical insurance catalogue and expedite negotiations on admitting exclusive anti-cancer drugs to the catalogue.