Objective To provide basis to improve the ability of primary care services in Chengdu by comparatively analyzing inpatient medical service of primary medical institutions (community health service centers and township health centers). Methods From October to November 2016, the data of inpatient services in primary medical institutions in Chengdu, including 390 primary medical institutions in 22 districts (cities) and counties, were investigated by questionnaire. SPSS 19.0 was used for data collection and analysis, while the univariate logistic regression and multiple logistic regression were used to analyze the influencing factors. Results It was more common for rural primary medical institutions to carry out inpatient medical services than urban (96.18% vs. 53.84%). The coverage rate of insurance in urban areas was higher than rural areas (98.41% vs. 90.87%), while the rate of adopting clinical pathway of single disease was quite low both in urban areas (23.81%) and rural areas (18.25%). Primary medical institutions in urban areas launched more special projects of inpatient services than those in rural areas (14.29%–17.46% vs. 3.57%–7.54%). The total amount of inpatient medical services in 2015 in rural areas was larger than urban areas (529 611 vs. 103 912), the total number of inpatient services in rural was 5.09 times that in urban primary medical institutions, the average inpatient services in 2015 per one rural primary medical institution was 1.27 times that in urban, per 10 000 residents in rural areas consumed 3.01 times more inpatient medical services than those in urban areas in average, the median beds utilization efficiency in rural areas was better than in urban areas (74.47% vs. 22.47%); work intensity of inpatient medical service in rural areas was greater than in urban areas (234.57 vs. 81.74 cases per year per doctor). The number of inpatient services was positively related to population in service (when less than 100 000 residents), inpatient beds, the number of drugs, the number of medical staff. Conclusions For inpatient medical service, there are obvious differences between urban and rural areas in Chengdu. Therefore, above differences should be taken into full consideration in the allocation of resources in primary medical institutions. Thus more targeted management measures should be formulated.
Objective To investigate the medical technical services of the primary health care institutions in Chengdu and provide suggestions to improve their capability. Methods From October to November 2016, a questionnaire survey was conducted towards all the 390 primary health care institutions (including urban community health service centers and rural township health centers) in the 22 districts/cities/counties of Chengdu. Descriptive statistical methods was used for analysis. Results A total of 390 questionnaires were issued, and 379 valid questionnaires were recovered. In the primary health care institutions, the proportion of laboratory technicians, ultrasound technicians, electrocardiogram technicians and radiological technicians accounting for overall medical staffs was 3.32%, 2.04%, 1.75%, and 2.43%, respectively. The setup rate of laboratory, B-ultrasonic room, electrocardiogram room in the urban community health service centers was 94.02%, 93.16%, and 94.02%, respectively, which was similar with the rural township health centers (93.51%, 95.42%, and 90.08%, respectively). The top three medical technical services provided by the primary health care institutions were blood glucose test (96.04%), blood routine test (95.25%) and urinary routine test (95.25%), and the latter three were lung function test (18.21%), blood gas analysis (8.18%) and CT (5.28%). Conclusion Primary health care institutions in Chengdu need to improve the standardization of medical technical projcects and improve their service capability.
ObjectiveTo analyze the accessibility of primary care in Sichuan Province from both the perspective of doctors, patients, and field workers, and then make some policy recommendations.MethodsBased on the Quality and Costs of Primary Care in Europe primary care questionnaire, we surveyed 48 primary care facilities from six cities / states in Sichuan by multi-stage stratified random sampling method, taking in account of the regional development level from November 2017 to December 2018. Then integrated accessibility score for primary care was calculated based on the question items for both doctors and patients.ResultsThis study effectively surveyed 319 primary care doctors and 641 patients. In general, the integrated accessibility score for primary care for these areas was 0.25. The accessibility of primary care was worst in less-developed regions (0.23), while it was much better in medium-developed area (0.30) and developed area (0.28).ConclusionsWe can do lots of things to improve accessibility of primary care. Evidence based policies are needed to promote this goal that everyone will have access to basic medical and health services.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy of pay-for-performance (P4P) for primary care physicians (PCPs). MethodsThe Cochrane Library, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, EMbase, Web of Science, PubMed, Dissertations and Theses Database, EconLit, CNKI, WanFang Data, IDEAS, and POPLINE were searched to collect studies on the efficacy of P4P for PCPs from inception to May 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Statistical analysis was then performed by using RevMan 5.4 software. ResultsA total of 10 studies were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that P4P incentives possibly improved child immunization status (RR=1.27, 95%CI 1.19 to 1.36, P<0.001), slightly improved primary care physicians’ prescribing of guideline-recommended antihypertensive medicines compared with existing payment method (RR=1.07, 95%CI 1.02 to 1.12, P=0.006), and improved a mixed outcome measure of service provision and patient health outcomes (RR=1.13, 95%CI 1.04 to 1.23, P=0.004). ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that P4P possibly increases the quantity of health service provision and improve quality of service provision for targeted populations. The effects of P4P on health outcomes is uncertain. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify the above conclusions.