New healthcare plan has people-centered approach

Editor’s note: China released a five-year plan that aims to enhance the accessibility, affordability and sustainability of its public healthcare system. China Daily spoke to Dong Wenyong, an associate researcher at the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on the importance of the plan. Below are excerpts of the interview. The views don’t necessarily represent those of China Daily.

There is a noticeable gap between the current development of healthcare provision and the growing demand for high-quality healthcare services. Factors such as urbanization, an aging population and the growth of new forms of employment are generating new demands for healthcare delivery. Also, the lack of synchronization among healthcare services, pharmaceutical supplies and medical insurance hinders the effectiveness of healthcare provision.

Addressing these challenges and seizing the opportunities requires a dedicated and comprehensive plan to drive systemic reform and development. Advances in big data and artificial intelligence present new opportunities to improve the management of the healthcare system.

Against this backdrop, the plan proactively addresses the challenges and opportunities facing the public healthcare system. It outlines six goals and guiding principles, six areas of reform, five initiatives to improve people’s well-being and three major projects.

The goals are the six qualities that China’s healthcare system should feature by 2030: fairness, legal compliance, security, digital and intelligent capabilities, coordination and sound management.

This is the first time that these six qualities have been systematically identified as development goals of the public healthcare system. Their introduction clarifies the sector’s objectives and provides specific criteria for evaluating progress. Together, they will serve as benchmarks, offering multidimensional guidance for the development of the public healthcare system over the next five years.

The plan also outlines six major reform tasks: improving the multi-tiered public healthcare system; implementing long-term care insurance; deepening pharmaceutical and healthcare service reforms; improving the management and regulatory system for public healthcare funds; improving the public service system; and strengthening the foundations for the development and provision of public healthcare.

A key focus of the reforms is addressing institutional gaps, particularly those affecting individuals in flexible employment, such as food delivery couriers and ride-hailing drivers, by facilitating their coverage by medical insurance. This adaptation is crucial to meet the needs of new forms of employment. Additionally, the inclusion of long-term care insurance in the overall public healthcare system directly addresses the demands of an aging population.

The five initiatives to enhance people’s well-being include efforts to consolidate and improve universal enrollment in medical insurance, develop an all-in-one service for medicine purchases, strengthen primary-level healthcare with the support of medical insurance, standardize the direct settlement of medical expenses incurred outside the insured person’s place of residence, and establish a personal medical insurance cloud platform.

These measures address long-standing concerns among insured people and matters that directly affect their daily lives. They demonstrate that the plan not only addresses national-level issues but also incorporates a people-centered approach that focuses on individual needs.

Through concrete measures such as building platforms for managing insured people’s information, developing applications for comparing medicine prices and supporting primary healthcare institutions in residential communities, the plan aims to advance broader institutional reform through targeted initiatives.

The three major projects are a monitoring and early-warning system for fund operations, big-data regulatory models and international cooperation on public healthcare services. These projects address the challenges and opportunities of an era defined by risk, technology and increased openness.

Through targeted development efforts, these projects will help turn the concepts of secure, digital, intelligent, and well-managed public healthcare into concrete outcomes, thereby building a modern system that meets practical needs and prepares for the future, while delivering higher-quality coverage.