Health insurance system has been proved to be an effective way to promote the quality of health service in many countries. However, how to control health expenditure under health insurance system remains a problem to be resolved. Some developed countries like UK, Canada and Sweden linked their health technology assessment results with decision making and health insurance management, and made prominent achievements in both expenditure control and quality improvement. China is carrying out its health system reform and running a new health insurance project. Using the experiences of other countries is undoubtedly of great importance in developing and managing our health insurance system.
Objective To explore the impact of Diagnosis-Intervention Packet (DIP) reform on the operation of pilot county-level hospital, analyze the challenges that hospitals may face in DIP reform, and propose strategies to adapt to the reform. Methods The settlement list data of inpatients insured by medical insurance for 2022 from a county-level tertiary public hospital in Jiuquan City, Gansu Province were collected, where DIP was planned to operate. The DIP payment was simulated, and the operational status of the hospital and departments after implementing DIP reform was analyzed based on enrollment status, cost deviation, length of stay, hospitalization expenses, and DIP payment as relevant indicators. Results Under the implementation of DIP payment, the overall enrollment rate of the hospital was 98.1%, including 85.4% in the core group, 7.0% in the comprehensive group, and 7.6% in the grassroots group. Normal costs accounted for 88.9%, deviation costs accounted for 11.1%, with high magnification cases accounting for 1.9% and low magnification cases accounting for 9.2%. The payment standard for all cases included in the hospital according to DIP was 15.464 million yuan, the total amount paid by the pooling fund was 19.986 million yuan, and the difference between DIP payment and payment by project was –4.522 million yuan. Conclusion There is a significant difference in the medical insurance payments received by county-level hospitals after implementing DIP payment, and there is an urgent need to adapt to the DIP payment reform as soon as possible.
ObjectivesTo analyze the economic burden caused by delay in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes.MethodsThe employee/non-employee health insurance and medical examination data from Japan Medical Data Center (JMDC) and Milliman Inc. were used to analyze the health economic burden of the situation in case the diabetic population receives timelydiagnosis and treatment with real world data.ResultsThe overall population delaying the diabetes diagnosis and treatment in Japan was estimated to be 916 000, and the average time of delay was 39.6 months. The increase in time of delay was related with the increase in monthly medical costs after diabetes diagnosis. If the whole delayed population could receive timely diagnosis and treatment, it can totally save about 38.24 billion yuan (1.5% of the annual Japanese national medical expenditure.ConclusionsThe current study suggests a huge potential health economic burden that can be improved by promoting the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes, which provides reference for the economic evaluation of similar health policies and also the application of real world data in China in future.
Objective To explore the medical insurance quota payment of dialysis treatment for outpatients with end-stage renal disease in Chengdu from following aspects, evaluation indexes and reasonable amount, so as to provide scientific basis for the payment of single disease. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect the cost information of patients, and to formulate the assignment of evaluation indexes according to the therapeutic principles and statistical results; Delphi method was adopted to determine the assignment and the standard of quota payment. Results A total of 17 dialysis organizations approved by Chengdu municipal medical insurance were involved in this study. Of 700 questionnaires distributed, 686 were retrieved. After excluding 26 questionnaires for incomplete filling and incorrect treatment information, a total of 660 questionnaires were included actually, accounted for 94.28% of all informants. The results of survey showed that, the hemodialysis treatment rate accounted for 84% (555/660) of all informants, while the peritoneal dialysis treatment rate accounted for 16% (105/660). By assessing the project assignment of outpatient dialysis treatment, the minimum annual payment of hemodialysis was RMB 118 242.75 yuan, while that of peritoneal dialysis was RMB 96 498.00 yuan. Conclusion The quota payment of outpatient dialysis shows b evidence after adopting the treatment project assignment. The grading quota payment of outpatient dialysis enables the medical insurance fund to be more reasonably used.
ObjectiveTo explore effective evaluation tools as well as systems of medical service capability related to total payment control of medical insurance. MethodsCombining references and using the Delphi method, the evaluation indicators of total payment control of medical insurance were screened and identified. Then, based on analytic hierarchy process, a weight questionnaire was designed and weighted coefficients of all-level indicators were also calculated. ResultsWe proposed a mathematical model to evaluate medical service capability related to total payment control of medical insurance using three types of primary evaluation indicators and seventeen types of secondary evaluation indicators with their weighted coefficients. ConclusionThe establishment of the evaluation systems of medical service capability in medical institutions could objectively reflect medical service capability to some extent, and provide references on total payment control of medical insurance for medical insurance agencies.
Judging from the latest policies related to the medical insurance payment reform of the state and Sichuan province, the reform of medical insurance diagnosis-related group (DRG)/diagnosis-intervention packet (DIP) payment methods is imperative. The impact of DRG/DIP payment method reform on public hospitals is mainly analyzed from the aspects of hospital cost accounting and control, quality of filling in the first page of medical cases, coding accuracy, standard of medical practice, development of diagnosis and treatment technology innovation business, multi-departmental linkage mechanism, competition between hospitals, performance appraisal mechanism, and negotiation and communication mechanism. We should put forward hospital improvement strategies from the top-level design of the whole hospital and from the aspects of improving the quality of the first page of the cases and the quality of the coding, strengthening the cost accounting and control of the disease, carrying out in-hospital and out-of-hospital training, establishing a liaison model, finding gaps with benchmark hospitals, enhancing the core competitiveness of innovative technologies, and improving internal performance appraisal, etc., to promote the high-quality development of hospitals.
Value-based healthcare (VBHC) is an important guideline for current and future healthcare services. In practice, VBHC should be the best goal of public welfare of healthcare service. Meanwhile, VBHC and cost-effectiveness analysis together provide scientific evidence for healthcare decision-making. Pay by value is inevitable in the next stage of the reform of the payment system of medical insurance, and the health service system should be reconstructed based on VBHC. Finally, the challenges of VBHC implementation are discussed.
Objective To assess the effectiveness of outreach strategies for expanding insurance coverage of children who are eligible for health insurance schemes. Methods We searched The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library 2009, Issue 2), PubMed (1951 to 2010), EMBASE (1966 to 2009), PsycINFO (1967 to 2009) and other relevant databases and websites. In addition, we searched the reference lists of included studies and relevant reviews, and carried out a citation search for included studies to find more potentially relevant studies. Randomized controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, controlled before-after studies and interrupted time series which evaluated the effects of outreach strategies on increasing health insurance coverage for children. The included strategies were increasing awareness of schemes, modifying enrolment, improving management and organization of insurance schemes, and mixed strategies. Two review authors independently screened literatures, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias. We narratively summarized the data. Results We included two studies, both from the United States. One randomized controlled trial study with a low risk of bias showed that community-based case managers who provided health insurance information, application support were effective in enrolling Latino American children into health insurance schemes (RR=1.68, 95%CI 1.44 to 1.96, n=257). The second quasi-randomized controlled trial, with an unclear risk of bias, indicated that handing out insurance application materials in hospital emergency departments can increase enrolment of children into health insurance (RR=1.50, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.18, n=223). Conclusion The two studies included in this review provide evidence that providing health insurance information and application assistance and handing out application materials in hospital emergency departments can probably both improve insurance coverage of children. But the application of the interventions to other countries beyond the US still depends on contextual factors of health medical systems. Further studies evaluating the effectiveness of different outreach strategies for expanding health insurance coverage of children in different countries are needed, with careful attention given to study design.
Objective To compare the national essential medicines list (EML) and national essential insurance medicine list (EIML) of China with that of the WHO, so as to provide reasonable evidence for the adjustment of new EML and EIML of China. Methods The similarities and differences in the selection, updating, categories, subcategories and the amounts of medicines in the EML and EIML of China and the WHO EML were compared and analyzed. Results There are some differences among the three lists in selecting principles, updating of medicines .The latest version of WHO EML (version in 2007) has 27 categories, including 340 medicines; China EML (version in 2004) has 23 categories and 773 western medicines, containing 23 categories and 225 (66.17%) similar medicines of WHO EML, which accounts for 29.11% of EML of China. China EIML (version in 2005) has 23 categories and 1 031 western medicines, containing 22 categories and 227 (66.76%) of WHO EML, which accounts for 22.02% of EIML of China. China EIML was developed based on China EML. There is little difference in selecting, updating, categories of medicines. Conclusion The difference was obviously found in medicine selection, updating and categories between China EML, EIML and WHO EML. We suggested that our national EML and EIML should be more reasonably selected and updated base on the principals of WHO EML.