By Li Zuojun & Wang Weijin, Research Team on “The Approaches and Countermeasures on Incorporating Healthcare into Medical Service Package”, Research Institute of Public Administration and Human Resources, DRC

Research Report, No.157, 2021 (Total 6222) 2021-6-15

Abstract: The hard issue of inadequate and expensive medical services has been greatly alleviated owing to the advanced reform on medical and healthcare service system whereas excessive medical treatment still remains and has aroused high public concern. The main reasons for such a practice are attributed to the following facts. Some hospitals support medical service with income from medicine sales due to the relatively sluggish internal supervision; the staffing and remuneration system in line with the characteristics of medical and healthcare service industry is not established; people’s medical and healthcare knowledge is inadequate and their ability to protect their legal rights is weak; the self-discipline of medical and healthcare service industry needs to be intensified; and the government’s regulatory capacity is yet to be strengthened. To solve the problem of overtreatment, work needs to be done in the following aspects. We need to incorporate healthcare into medical service package in line with the purpose of ensuring that people enjoy good health; we need to clarify the responsibilities of relevant entities and the role of collaborative governance with concerted efforts of multiple parties needs to be brought into full play; the reform on public hospitals needs to be accelerated in particular, and the regulatory measures need to be innovated with efforts to fully unleash the self-discipline of the industry to improve doctors’ professional ability, ethnics and social status. Last but not least, we need to further enrich the medical and healthcare knowledge of the public.

Keywords: overtreatment, the relation between doctors and patients, social governance