Effects of and Prospects for the Hierarchical Medical Policy in Beijing, China

Hierarchical medical policies are widely used worldwide to reduce healthcare costs, rationalize the use of healthcare resources, and improve accessibility and fairness of healthcare services. However, few case studies have evaluated the effects and prospects of such policies. Medical reform efforts in China have distinct goals and characteristics. Therefore, we investigated the effects of a hierarchical medical policy in Beijing and assessed the future potential of the policy to yield insights for other countries, especially developing countries. Different methods were used to analyze multidimensional data from official statistics, a questionnaire survey of 595 healthcare workers from 8 representative public hospitals in Beijing, a questionnaire survey of 536 patients, and 8 semi-structured interview records. The hierarchical medical policy had strong positive effects on improving access to healthcare services, balancing the workload of healthcare workers in various levels of public hospitals, and improving the management of public hospitals. The remaining obstacles include severe job stress among healthcare workers, the high cost of some healthcare services, and the need for improvement in the development level and service capacity of primary hospitals. This study provides useful policy recommendations regarding the implementation and extension of the hierarchical medical policy, including the need for governments to improve the hospital assessment system and for hospitals to actively participate in developing medical partnerships.