Objective To systematically review the current situation, dilemmas and countermeasures of the regulation of health care integration services in China, and provide reference for the research on the regulation of health care integration services in China. Methods Studies and policies on the regulation of health care integration services were systematically searched from the inception of the databases to October 2022, and the included studies and policies were coded and analyzed by using the qualitative analysis software NVivo12. Results A total of 12 research articles and 15 policy announcements were included. The theoretical framework, regulatory dilemmas and regulatory countermeasures for the regulation of health care integration services were obtained through open coding, axial coding and selective coding. The regulatory framework of health care integration services was divided into five aspects: regulatory basis, regulatory subject, regulatory object, regulatory content and regulatory methods. The lack of regulatory basis led to dilemmas in the remaining aspects accordingly. Conclusion The regulation of health care integration services needs to start from the regulatory basis, introduce and improve the health care integration laws and policies, and gradually form a health care integration service regulatory model with institutional self-regulation as the priority, government regulation as the main body, and the public, third parties and other social regulation as the auxiliary.
Objective To analyze and compare the urban-rural difference of health resource allocation of maternal and child health institutions in Sichuan province. MethodsGini coefficient and agglomeration degree was used to analyze the equity of health resource allocation of maternal and child health institutions in Sichuan province. ResultsThe number of maternal and child health institutions per 10 000 population in rural areas was higher than that in urban areas, while the hospital beds and health workers per 10 000 population was lower. In terms of population-based Gini coefficient, the value of three type of health resources of maternal and child health institutions in Sichuan Province were lower than 0.4, indicating a good equity, however, the value of institutions and health workers in urban areas were lower than those in rural areas, the value of hospital beds were higher than those in rural areas. In terms of the difference between HRAD and PAD, there were great differences in the population-based accessibility of health resources of maternal and child health institutions in Sichuan province, relative excess and relative deficiency coexisted in different city (state). Moreover, there were differences in population-based accessibility to health resources of maternal and child health institutions between urban and rural areas in each city (state). ConclusionThere are obvious urban-rural and regional differences in health resources allocation of maternal and child health institutions in Sichuan province. Social factors such as population, geographical area and service radius should be comprehensively considered according to the real needs in the planning of rational health resources allocation of maternal and child health institutions.
Objective
To investigate the elasticity of demand for health care services in China, and to provide suggestions for further studies.
Methods
Databases including PubMed, The Cochrane Library (Issue 10, 2015), EMbase, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were searched from inception to December 2015 to collect studies about price elasticity or income elasticity of demand for health care services. Literatures were screened and related information was independently extracted by two reviewers. Then qualitative approaches were applied to describe the elasticity.
Results
A total of 31 studies were included. Estimates of the own-price elasticity of demand for health care services ranged from –2.520 to 2.944 in 25 studies; 2 studies estimated cross-price elasticity between outpatient and inpatient service and one study estimated cross-price elasticity between different levels of inpatient services and all estimates were positive; Estimates of the income elasticity ranged from –0.020 to 2.480 in 28 studies. Demand for inpatient services was more income sensitive than the demand for outpatient services and urban citizens were more sensitive to income than their rural counterparts.
Conclusion
Health service is insensitive to price and belongs to necessity; inpatient service and outpatient service are substitutes for each other and different levels of inpatient services are substitutes for each other; government are supposed to tackle with the unbalanced increase of the demand of outpatient and inpatient services along with the increase of income to guide rational health-seeking behaviors.
Objective To describe the criteria and procedure for defining an essential healthcare package in the developed and developing countries. Method Search words were chosen by both health policy experts and search coordinators after discussion and pilot. We searched electronic databases, websites of health institutions and governments and search engine Google. Any reports of implemented strategy to develope an essential healthcare package were included. Pre-designed data extraction form was used for collecting strategies and study method of included studies. Then the extracted information was analyzed and described. Result One hundred and sixty-six studies covering 72 countries were included, most of which were studies in the middle and low Countries. In terms of study objective,160 articles aimed to describe strategies, 6 articles aimed to evaluate effectiveness of strategies.Five studies evaluating effectiveness were cross-sectionnary data, and one study was time series. Conclusion An appropriate package should be defined according to both technique criteria and social welfare criteria, considering each country’s healthcare system and market structure, characteristics of the demander and provider, capacity of government’s regulation. The experience in transition countries gives us more high lights.
Objective To critically appraise and systematically reviewe the economic evaluations of all alternative interventions for hepatitis B in China. Methods We searched MEDLINE and the four largest Chinese electronic databases. The references of eligible studies were also screened. Economic evaluations of any type, which studied interventions for hepatitis B, were eligible for inclusion. A 25-item quality checklist modified from a BMJ checklist was used to appraise the quality of studies. The overall quality score was calculated against 100 points to indicate the risk of bias. Quality appraisal and data extraction were conducted by two independent reviewers. Results Nineteen full economic evaluations and two cost studies were included of which fourteen studies were scored 25-44 points, and seven scored 45-61 points. Most studies adequately documented effectiveness of interventions. However, the costs of interventions were not well reported in over 50% of studies. Many studies inadequately conducted data analysis, particular in sensitivity analysis and discounting. Ten studies compared lamivudine with interferon or conventional therapy for 1-year (or 6-month) effects, which indicated that lamivudine was generally cost-effective. Three evaluations studied 30-year outcomes of interferon compared with conventional therapy, which suggested that interferon usually saved additional costs and years of life. Another three studies compared interferon with less frequently used antiviral agents, however the comparative cost-effectiveness varied. Two cost studies showed the total costs and the percentage of medical costs increased rapidly in proportion to disease severity.Conclusions Of alternative interventions, lamivudine is cost effective for short-term effects. Interferon is superior to conventional therapy for long-term outcomes. However, the long-term economic outcomes cannot be justified by the current evidence. Quality of methods, particularly, that of costing and analytical methods, is a major limitation. There remains a b need to improve the quality of reporting. Careful considerations should be paid before applying the results to decision making.
This review thoroughly investigates the application and advancements of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the comprehensive management of lung cancer. AI is utilized at various stages of lung cancer diagnosis and treatment through techniques such as computer vision, deep learning, and natural language processing. In the early diagnosis stage, AI assists in identifying high-risk populations and, in conjunction with pathological techniques, accomplishes functions like histological classification of lung cancer tissues, prediction of molecular markers, and quantitative analysis of immunohistochemistry. During the treatment stage, AI integrates multimodal data to aid in formulating individualized treatment plans and enhances efficiency via clinical decision support systems (CDSS). In the follow-up stage, continuous patient monitoring and optimization of follow-up strategies are realized through imaging, remote monitoring, and intelligent follow-up systems. The prospects for AI medical technology are promising. However, it still confronts challenges such as weak generalizability, poor interpretability of AI decisions, and ethical and legal issues.
Objective To investigate current situation of medical service and management in Gaozha Central Township Health Center (GzC), so as to provide baseline data for township health centers in both key techniques research and product development of drugs allocation and delivery. Methods A questionnaire combined with a special interview was carried out, which included the general information, human resources, medical service and management, and the practice of essential medicine list. Results a) The hardware condition of GzC was not good enough, and the economic status of the service recipients was lower than the average level of both Wuzhong City and China mainland; b) The constituent ratio of general practitioner (GP) and nurse, and GP and laboratorian were all lower than those of national level, while, the constituent ratio of GP and technician was a little bit higher. GzC was in short of medical technical personnel and, especially, the professional pharmacists. The logistics technical workers were as the same proportion as the nurses. The medical technical personnel without professional education background accounted for 3.4%, and about 38% of the staff members had no college degree, about 86.2% had at most primary profession titles. There was no personnel turnover of GzC in recently years; c) The bed utilization ratio was lower than national level (46.4% vs. 60.7%), while the average duration of stay and the in-patient and out-patient service workload of GP were longer or heavier than national level (8 vs. 4.8, 9 vs. 8.3, 4 vs. 1.3); d) The out-patient service in 2010 decreased 26.9% compared to 2009; and the in-patient service in 2010 decreased 42.4%; e) The average medical expense per outpatient and per inpatient increased 127.3% and 56.2%, respectively in 2010 compared to 2009; and f) Essential medicine list was put into practice in April 1st of 2010 and there was only 195 species available in GzC, which has not met the requirements of the national essential medicine list. Conclusion In order to meet the standards of general rural township health center in western China, GzC needs to cope with challenges of insufficient hardware conditions, short of staff, unreasonable personnel structure, low educational background and professional title of the staff, none human resources flow and low technical level of medical service. GzC dose well in drug expenses control, and the hospitalization costs are lower than those of the national level. However, it increases rapidly in 2010. The management of GzC may be influenced by zero-profit sale of the essential drugs, and appropriate subsidy and policy support are necessary to maintain its service quality. And it is required to complement the medicine based on the evidences, to carry out staff training and usage guidance of essential medicine, and to finally guarantee the safe and reasonable use of medicines.
ObjectivesTo understand the current situation of the nosocomial infection management system in maternal and child health care institutions at all levels in Sichuan province, and provide a feasible policy basis for strengthening the nosocomial infection management.MethodsThe expert group members of Sichuan Maternal and Child Health Association Academy Association designed a unified questionnaire, and distributed the questionnaire through “Questionnaire Star” to carry out on-site online survey.ResultsA total of 159 maternal and child health care institutions participated in the survey. Most secondary and below maternal and child health care institutions had not set up professional hospital infection monitoring system. A few secondary and below maternal and child health care institutions did not independently set up a hospital infection management committee, hospital infection management department, full-time hospital infection department head, the inspection team of infection control, monitoring system, and nosocomial infection management system and special supervision had not been established in special departments. There were statistical differences in some jobs in the construction of nosocomial infection management system in different levels of maternal and child health care institutions (P<0.05).ConclusionsThe organizational system construction of hospital infection managemen are at a low level in the second level and below maternal and child health care institutions in Sichuan province. The tertiary maternal and child health care institutions should give full play to the leading role in promoting the standard construction of nosocomial infection management system of maternal and child health care institutions in Sichuan province, and carry out nosocomial infection management of maternal and child health care institutions orderly.
Chris Silagy is the Chair of The Cochrane Collaboration between 1996 and 1998, and the founder as well as the first Director of the Australasian Cochrane Centre. He helped to establish the Chinese Cochrane Centre. He has made great contributions to the establishment and development of The Cochrane Collaboration to which he devoted his whole life. Though he died at the early age of 41, his optimism, great energy and b responsibility have left deep impression and inspiration to every one around him.
This paper introduces the development and changes of clinical practice guidelines based on the enlightenment of the Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in Health Care (RIGHT), and provides policy recommendations.
