China implements landmark medical reforms in Beijing

In a bid to lower medical expenses, China today ended a much-criticised system at public hospitals in Beijing under which patients were forced to buy costly medicines from the same hospital they were admitted to.
Starting today, 2,605 Beijing hospitals switched to a new billing system which replaced a registration and treatment fee with a higher medical service charge, but scraped the previous mark-up on drugs, which was as high as 15 per cent in the old pricing system.
Beijing became the first to scrap the much-criticised previous system under which public hospitals made money by charging patients more on drugs which they have to buy from the same hospital.

The reform is applicable to more than 3,600 medical institutions citywide, while some 1,000 small village clinics are not yet equipped with computerised billing system, Gao Xiaojun, spokesperson with Beijing health and family planning commission said.
Price changes were also seen across 435 medical services offered at public hospitals and clinics.
The reform has reduced fees for the use of certain equipment such as computed tomography (CT) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), but increased charges for certain medical services that involve a lot of experience, expertise or staff time, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

According to calculations, the overall medical costs for Beijing residents will remain balanced and there will be no increased burden on patients, Fang Laiying, head of the Beijing municipal health and family planning commission said.

"Separating treatment and drug sales will stop over- prescription and help medical practitioners provide better treatment," said Fang.
To ensure medicine prices drop, Beijing has mandated transparent drug purchases, choosing suppliers through open bidding and requiring the full disclosure of drug and producer information.
Meanwhile, community hospitals and medical institutions have been given the same access to medicines that were once only prescribable by high-level hospitals.
More than 90 per cent of Beijing's hospitals have taken action to improve their services since the reform plan was published on March 22, Fang said.
Separately China also plans to ease the heavy rush on public hospitals by allowing corporate hospitals as part of new medical reforms.