Limited effects of the comprehensive pricing healthcare reform in China

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of China's very recent comprehensive pricing healthcare reform, taking the patients' perspective. Study design: Two survey studies were conducted using the same protocol in Beijing in July 2017 and 2018, respectively. Methods: The same questionnaire was used and contains two sections, with the first on demographic and personal information and the second on various assessments of the reform. Results: Findings different from those in the government-led evaluations were made. Specifically, the majority of the patients thought the level of medical service fee and cost of medicine still high, and experienced no change or an increase in overall medical cost. The overall assessment of the reform was not sufficiently positive. Multiple problems in healthcare were identified. Development from 2017 to 2018 was not significantly positive. Conclusions: Patients' assessments of the reform were not as positive as those made in the government-led evaluations. In extending the reform to the whole country, the government and healthcare providers may need to further tune the reform to better serve the public. (C) 2019 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.