CDRF Releases the Research Report on China Healthcare System Reform
On March 20th, 2015, China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) held a release seminar for “China Healthcare System Reform Research”. Over 40 participants attended the seminar and joined the discussion, including members of the research team, representatives from the field of healthcare, experts, scholars and reporters.
CDRF commenced the research project of “China Healthcare System Research” in 2013. Reviewing China’s healthcare demands in the coming decades, the research report of the project analyzes priorities and difficulties faced by China’s healthcare reform based on international experiences. The research focused on the following six aspects: future prospects of population health, prevention-oriented healthcare system, sustainable health finance system, capacity of healthcare supply, institutional & technical innovation in the health sector, and environmental risks to health. Based on the report, a series of policy advices were proposed to cope with major challenges of population and health in China.
Lu Mai, leader of the research team and Secretary General of CDRF, applauded the achievements in equalization brought by new healthcare reform in medical insurance, local service system, and basic public services. At the same time, he pointed out that the primary contradiction between people’s pursuit of good health and the nation’s limited budget has become an issue in every country at present. There are three ways to resolve this contradiction. Firstly, the healthcare system should be orientated towards general health management instead of focusing on treatment alone, and take into account the health needs of an individual throughout his/her life span. Secondly, reform of public hospital needs to allow more market-oriented measuresization in hospitals and local agencies, while salaries of doctors should be increased so as to improve the accessibility of medical care. Thirdly, the healthcare service for migrant population should be increased and upgraded. All in all, single solution couldn’t solve all the problems faced by China’s healthcare reform and there’s still a long way to go.
Ian Read, Chairman and CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), emphasized that China’s healthcare system reform should refer to international successful examples and learn from failures. The introduction of international perspective would benefit China’s policy making. In the meantime, Mr. Read pointed out that commercial insurance could attract diverse funding sources while high-quality medical staff and powerful local service system would contribute to the improvement of the overall medical supply capacity.
Experts present at the seminar also shared their opinions on topics such as Chinese people’s health condition, capacity of medical service supply, pharmaceutical innovation, health promotion, environment improvement, equity and efficiency, relationship between government and market.
