Objective To discuss the epidemiological characteristics of young and middle-aged people infected with COVID-19 in Gansu province under the new epidemic policy. Methods A total of 1800 people were collected from two tertiary hospitals in Gansu province from November 8, 2022 to January 28, 2023. The vaccination status, nucleic acid antigen detection, the specific time of infection, main symptoms and severity of the disease were investigated. Results Among 1800 participants, 1685 (93.6%) were vaccinated and 1565 (86.9%) were infected with COVID-19. Among the 1565 infected persons, 523 (33.4%) completed both nucleic acid and antigen testing, 382 (24.4%) completed nucleic acid testing, 490 (31.3%) completed antigen testing, 170 (10.9%) received IgG testing. 1490 (95.2%) were slight ill, 75 (4.8%) were critical ill, and 96 (6.1%) were hospitalized, and no one died. In 2022, 92 cases (5.9%) were infected in the first half of November, 141 cases (9.1%) in the second half of November, 630 cases (40.3%) in the first half of December, and 553 cases (35.4%) in the second half of December. 109 cases (7.0%) were infected in the first half of January, 38 cases (2.2%) in the second half of January, and 2 cases (0.1%) in the first half of February of 2023. and no cases in the second half of February. Among the 1565 infected persons, 825 (52.7%) had respiratory symptoms, 293 (18.7%) had gastrointestinal symptoms, 257 (16.4%) had autonomic disorders, 140 (8.9%) had other symptoms such as decreased smell and taste, and 48 (3.3%) had no symptoms after infection. Conclusions The vaccination rate of young and middle-aged people in Lanzhou city of Gansu Province is high. Since the new policy, the infection rate of the novel coronavirus among young and middle-aged people is high, the number of antigen tests is more than nucleic acid tests, most of the infected patients are slight, with fewer critical patients, and the hospitalization rate is low. The peak of infection occurred in early December 2022, and the infection rate was basically zero by February 2023. The main symptoms of COVID-19 infection are mainly respiratory tract, followed by digestive tract and autonomic nervous system disorders, and few patients are completely asymptomatic.
ObjectivesTo explore the poor population’s cognition and satisfaction on medical assistance policies in Sichuan province, so as to provide evidence for improving health poverty alleviation policies.Methods A telephone survey was conducted between October and December 2017 among 1 280 poor individuals in Sichuan Province, with multi-stage stratified random sampling. The contents of the survey included general demographics of the poor population, and knowledge and satisfaction of health poverty alleviation policies.ResultsThe awareness rate of medical assistance policy was 91.80%, and the satisfaction rate was 91.88%. Poor individuals from non-poor counties, who had been out of poverty, and who reported that they had not signed up for family doctors, had low awareness of poverty alleviation policies. Poor individuals from non-poor counties, who usually went to the municipal hospital, who reported that they have not signed up for family doctors, and who do not know about health policies for poverty alleviation had a lower satisfaction rate.ConclusionsThe overall awareness rate and satisfaction rate of medical assistance policies in Sichuan province are relatively high, however, there are still some shortage. In the future, more attention should be paid to strengthen the promotion of health poverty alleviation policies for non-poor areas and those who had been lifted out of poverty, speeding up the contract service of family doctors and exploring ways to further alleviate the burden of medical expense of patients with serious diseases.
With the establishment and development of regional healthcare big data platforms, regional healthcare big data is playing an increasingly important role in health policy program evaluations. Regional healthcare big data is usually structured hierarchically. Traditional statistical models have limitations in analyzing hierarchical data, and multilevel models are powerful statistical analysis tools for processing hierarchical data. This method has frequently been used by healthcare researchers overseas, however, it lacks application in China. This paper aimed to introduce the multilevel model and several common application scenarios in medicine policy evaluations. We expected to provide a methodological framework for medicine policy evaluation using regional healthcare big data or hierarchical data.
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.
ObjectivesTo analyze the characteristics six types of cross-regional cancer patients and their medical behavior in Beijing.MethodsWe described the characteristics of cross-regional patients, analyzed the differences between cross-regional and local patients, and identified the key factors by analyzing the influencing factors of patient's cross-regional behavior to factors by using binary logistic regression model.ResultsCompared with local patients, cross-regional cancer patients had the following characteristics: consisting primarily of young and middle-aged workforce, simpler disease status and those more inclined to choose special hospital and surgical treatment.ConclusionsPromoting the construction of regional oncology medical center can meet the needs of cross-regional patients and relieve the pressure of medical treatment in large cities caused by cross-regional medical treatment behavior.
Objective To evaluate the pathways for improving the operational efficiency of medical teams, thereby providing micro-level empirical evidence for the refined management and high-quality development of public hospitals. MethodsBased on panel data from nine surgical teams in the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Sichuan Cancer Hospital from 2021 to 2024, this study employed the data envelopment analysis (DEA) with the BCC model to assess static efficiency, including technical efficiency (TE), scale efficiency (SE), and overall efficiency (OE). The Malmquist index was used to analyze the dynamic total factor productivity (TFP) and its decomposition into efficiency change (EC) and technology change (TC). Input indicators were the number of physicians and the number of open beds. Output indicators included the proportion of surgical patients, the proportion of grade Ⅳ surgeries, and the average length of stay (reciprocally transformed for positive orientation). Results The mean OE of all medical teams showed a continuous upward trend, while the mean SE exhibited a “V-shaped” pattern, initially decreasing and then increasing. The most significant growth was observed in mean TE, which was the primary driver of the OE improvement. All medical teams achieved positive TFP growth, with TC values greater than 1.000 across all teams, indicating that technological innovation was the core engine of efficiency enhancement. However, EC showed a divergent trend among the teams. Conclusion Public hospital performance appraisal policies effectively guide technological upgrading of medical teams through indicators such as “proportion of discharged patients undergoing surgery” and “proportion of grade Ⅳ surgeries”. However, issues of hospital resource mismatch and SE differentiation persist. It is necessary to establish specialized operation groups for dynamic resource monitoring and construct a “technological upgrading, scale adaptation, and management innovation” triangular balanced system to achieve a sustainable mechanism for maximizing healthcare resource input-output.
The construction of high-level talent teams is the core of building up high-level universities and hospitals, and it is an important reference index for the ranking of universities and academic disciplines. The first-class medical talent teams is an essential requirement for comprehensive hospitals to be ranked as "Double First-Class". Based on the practice of construction of high-level medical talents in West China Hospital of Sichuan University, this paper introduces the optimal appoaches in this regard.
Objective To compare the newest essential medicine lists (EMLs) of China and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2009, so as to provide the evidence for the selection, adjustment and implementation of the newest national EML of China. Methods Differences in the procedures of selection, implementation and the categories as well as the number of medicines in 2009 EMLs of the WHO and China were compared by descriptive analysis. Result Principles and procedures of selecting and updating EML of China were based on those of the WHO EML. However, the transparency of procedures, methods of selection, and evidence of efficacy, safety, cost-effectiveness and suitability were not enough. Essential medicines of the WHO were categorized by the Anatomical-Therapeutic-Chemical (ATC) classification system, while those of China were classified by clinical pharmacology. Twenty-one identical categories of the first class were found in the two lists. There were 8 and 3 unique categories in the WHO EML and China EML, respectively. A total of 358 and 255 medicines (including medicines in its explanation) were included in the EMLs of the WHO and China, respectively, with 133 identical medicines as well as 206 and 108 unique medicines. There were 51 antiinfective medicines in China EML, accounting for half of the WHO EML. Forty medicines were the same in both lists, and 11 and 60 anti-infective medicines were unique in EMLs of China and the WHO, except for 40 identical medicines. Among them, 22 and 31 antibacterials were included in the lists of the WHO and China with 17 identical medicines. Antifungal, antituberculosis and antiviral medicines in China EML were fewer than those in the WHO EML. The numbers of the identical medicines acting on the respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems and hormones in the both lists were 1, 7, 9, and 17, respectively, while the unique ones in China EML were 6, 12, 7, and 14, respectively. However, most of them were selected without adequate evidence in efficacy and safety. The medicines acting on cardiovascular system were 19 and 29 in both lists with 14 identical medicines. Some antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic medicines were included in China EML with similar mechanism, whereas some of them were excluded by the EML. Conclusion The total numbers of both EMLs are close to each other with half of the identical medicines. The selection of China EML mostly meets the needs of disease burden in China. However, the transparency of selection and evidence are not enough. We suggest that health authorities should cooperate with other stakeholders to promote the transparency of selection, to enhance the capacity of producing high-quality evidence, to develop related technical documents and guidelines, and to disseminate and monitor the implementation of EML.
ObjectiveTo learn the development and implementation of orphan drug policies, in order to provide decision-making references for the establishment of orphan drug policy according with China's national conditions.
MethodsWe electronically searched databases including CBM, CNKI, VIP, EMbase, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, National Library of Medicine, CRD database, The Campbell Library, The Cochrane Library and the drug administration websites of USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, South Korea, Japan, and South Africa to collect studies about orphan drug policy. The search date was up to February 2014. Two reviewers independently screened literature, and extracted data. Then, all included orphan drug policies were summarized and a comparative analysis was performed.
ResultsA total of 110 studies were included. USA, Singapore, Japan, Australia, European Union, Chinese Taiwan and South Korea had introduced orphan drugs incentive policies. South Africa, India, Canada, New Zealand and Chinese Hongkong were producing orphan drugs policy frameworks. The main items of orphan drug policy included marketing exclusivity, tax incentives, technical assistance, grant funding, expedite approval process and prolong re-evaluated time.
ConclusionIn mainland China, there is no orphan disease management policy. China should establish specific organization and working procedures, promote orphan drug policy related legislative work, clarify the definition and prevalence of orphan diseases, provide incentive mechanism to promote the research and development of orphan drugs, provide enterprises to develop compensation mechanism to safeguard the rights and interests of patients, as well as establish patients register network platform to track the processes of the diseases.
In the context of actively coping with aging, China has introduced a series of health care integration policies. Using the advocacy coalition framework theory, this paper aims to analyze the process of health care integration policy changes in China from three dimensions: policy beliefs, external events and policy learning. The policy subsystem of health care integration in China includes two coalitions: top-down cascade promotion and bottom-up absorption and radiation. External events and policy learning triggered policy change, where policy learning included endogenous learning within the coalition and exogenous learning between the coalitions. A policy impasse occurs when the two advocacy coalitions are at odds, and policy brokers and professional forums can get rid of the policy impasse. In the process of policy change in China’s health care integration, the two major advocacy coalitions have reached a certain consensus. It is recommended to alleviate the problems in the integration of health care by strengthening the external factors in the change of health care policy, enhancing the policy learning in the change of health care policy, and making full use of the information resources in the change of health care policy, so as to promote the high-quality development of the integration of health care.
