National Health Commission holds a conference to promote nationwide the experience in the transformation of urban secondary hospitals into community hospitals
Recently, the Written Record of the Regular Press Conference by National Health Commission on June 14, 2019 was released. The purpose of the conference is to publicize the typical experience of comprehensive reform of public hospitals in 2018 and build a national model.
At the conference, the typical experience of the comprehensive reform of public hospitals in Tongling, Anhui was publicized. In terms of integration of medical resources, the example that Tongling municipal government led the transformation of some secondary hospitals into community hospitals was mainly introduced!
Thus it can be seen that the transformation of urban secondary hospitals is a top priority among the reform of public hospitals!
As early as in July last year, the document, Circular on Issuing the Guidelines for Promoting the Nursing Service Reform and Development, issued by the National Health Commission, clearly stated that this means that a large number of primary and secondary hospitals would be transformed into medical care institutions including rehabilitation hospitals, aged care, and hospice care and community hospitals focusing on rehabilitation and nursing.
Great changes of 118 municipal public hospitals occur! Urban secondary hospitals to be transformed
As we deepen the reform for medical system, it is urgent to transform the urban secondary hospitals and the transformation of a large number of those hospitals begins to be implemented!
On August 13, the National Health Commission issued the Circular on Issuing the List of Pilot Cities for the Construction of Urban Medical Alliances to determine 118 pilot cities for the construction of urban medical alliances. The document also requires that by the end of 2019 in each pilot city, at least one medical alliance should be established and the urban tertiary hospitals-led, basic medical institutions-based, rehabilitation and nursing institutions-involved management mode for medical alliances should be initially formed.
The establishment of 118 urban medical alliances shows that the construction focuses on tertiary hospitals, basic hospitals and special rehabilitation and nursing hospitals. In addition, the document clearly states the requirement of increased financial investment. Due to the close-type urban medical alliances, patients may be treated in the basic hospitals or may be transferred to the large Grade III-A hospitals or specialized hospitals with strength. The urban secondary hospitals are like “chicken ribs that tasteless to eat but wasteful to discard”. So it is urgent to transform them!
More crucially, once the 118 urban medical alliances released by the National Health Commission are successfully established, the uniform medication, purchase, distribution and payment will be achieved internally. This means that important changes will occur in the drug market pattern of public hospitals and the basic market will bring great benefits.
Some analysts point out that it will be more and more difficult for tertiary hospitals and urban secondary hospitals without specialized subjects to survive. Now, a large number of urban secondary hospitals in various provinces have been transformed into community health centers!
The investment of CNY 285 million contributes to transformation of urban secondary hospitals into rehabilitation hospitals
Recently, 12 departments and commissions of Henan including Healthcare Security Administration, Development and Reform Commission and Health Commission jointly issued the Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Reform and Development of Nursing Service Industry which explicitly requires that some urban secondary hospitals should be guided to be transformed into aged care institutions.
Synchronized with Henan Province, 11 departments and commissions of Beijing including Health Commission and Healthcare Security Administration also issued the Implementation Plan on Promoting the Reform and Development of Nursing Service Industry in Beijing which explicitly requires that some primary and secondary hospitals should be transformed into nursing institutes to provide more nursing services.
It is reported that in order to alleviate the lack of rehabilitation medical resources, in 2019, the fourth batch of public hospitals continues to be transformed into rehabilitation and nursing medical institutions in Beijing, four public hospitals in districts of Haidian, Tongzhou, Shunyi and Mentougou will be transformed, and Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau grants a subsidy of CNY 15 million to each transformed institution. From 2016 to 2019, the Municipal Finance Bureau has granted a total of CNY 285 million in subsidy to 19 transformed institutions and achieved the full coverage of rehabilitation medical institutions in 16 districts of the city!
The ultimate goal of transformation community hospitals is to build rehabilitation nursing and hospice care centers.
Currently, China strengthens the construction of community hospitals, so more and more urban secondary hospital are transformed into community hospitals.
In March this year, the General Office of the National Health Commission issued the Notice on the Construction Pilot of Community Hospitals. In 35,000 community healthcare centers in China, a large number of centers can be upgraded to community hospitals. Many centers can even be rated as secondary hospitals.
The document sets clear important goals of construction of community hospitals:
The ultimate goal of this community hospital construction involves rehabilitation nursing and hospice care centers and is to undertake basic health examination. It is required that the community hospitals shall be mainly responsible for the elderly, rehabilitation, nursing and hospice care beds.
In a word, urban secondary hospitals transformed ultimately shall undertake the main functions of rehabilitation and nursing. It is in line with the positioning of secondary hospitals under the national hierarchical diagnosis and treatment. Rehabilitation institutions and geriatric care hospitals, as important links of the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system, undertake some tasks of big hospitals.
Nationally, talents and medical equipment for rehabilitation have become scarce resources in clinic and can bring great market profits.
Following the document issued by the National Health Commission, provinces in China successively put it into practice. A large number of secondary hospitals and even primary hospitals nationwide will be transformed into rehabilitation hospitals and nursing hospitals combining medical treatment and endowment, and community hospitals will be transformed into rehabilitation nursing centers and hospice centers.
It can be seen that in terms of medical device industry, the field of rehabilitation medical devices will unlock a market space of CNY 100 billion!
