On July 25, 2017, China’s State Council released guidelines to establish a “modern hospital management system” in the country. The guidelines encourage the better distribution of resources between large public hospitals and smaller regional centers, as well as the improvement of internal decision-making mechanisms.
The guidelines also aim to make public hospitals nonprofit by 2020. Currently, excessive sales and price markups of drugs remain common practice for many public hospitals to generate profit. The government has pledged to increase funding and loan repayment programs for public hospitals to increase the affordability and transparency of healthcare in the country.
According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the new guidelines will affect 12,700 public hospitals in China, which account for 87% of all emergency and outpatient services in the country.