China targets ‘excessive’ prescriptions and tests

 22-Jun-16, South China Morning Post

Public hospitals on the mainland are facing tougher scrutiny over prescriptions and tests as Beijing tries to find ways to cut costs and keep spending from growing more than 10 per cent a year. 

Health costs have been rising at a double-digit pace for the past two decades, and the central government has admitted reforming the sector has entered a “deep water zone” – a euphemism for difficulties.

Image: South China Morning Post

A new directive aimed at ­controlling spending was handed down by the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the State ­Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It called on its provincial and municipal branches to convey budget goals to public hospitals and establish a system for overseeing health care expenses.

Yang Yansui, director of the Research Centre of Employment and Social Security at Tsinghua University, said “It is more scientific to tie health care costs to gross domestic product growth. A reasonable ratio is 1.16 times GDP growth.” 

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