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Exploring Compact County Healthcare Communities: A Roadmap to Progress
Release time:
2025-03-20 00:00
To align with national policies, most regions have issued documents to establish healthcare communities (HCCs). However, many remain superficial, with implementation varying across regions. Based on China's context, HCC development can be categorized into four levels, with three key pathways for progression.
Four Levels of Healthcare Communities Development
False HCCs – No Substantive Content
- Only exists on paper, lacking legal entity status.
- No real integration, no accountability, no unified management.
- Features: No legal registration, no financial autonomy, no operational control, symbolic appointments.
Shared HCCs (Loose Type) – Partial Resource Sharing
- Some shared services (e.g., pharmacy, diagnostics) but no full integration of personnel, finances, or assets.
- Focus on coordination rather than deep restructuring.
Interest-Based HCCs (Compact Type) – Unified Management
- Full integration of county-township-village healthcare resources under strong administrative push.
- Forms a responsibility, management, service, and interest community.
Health-Oriented HCCs – Shift to Population Health Management
- Moves from treatment-centered to health-centered care.
- Integrates prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation via bundled payments.
Three Pathways for Advancement
Establish Shared Mechanisms (Loose HCCs → Shared HCCs)
- Shift from forced "integration" to voluntary "sharing" (e.g., shared departments, personnel, IT systems).
- Enables coordinated care without deep structural changes.
Break Interest Barriers (Shared HCCs → Compact HCCs)
- Requires strong government intervention to unify management.
- Key steps: Top-down policy support. Unified HR, finance, and resource allocation. Performance-based incentives across institutions.
Transition to Health-Oriented HCCs (Compact HCCs → Health HCCs)
- Core goal: Shift from reactive treatment to proactive health management.
- Reforms needed: Payment: Capitation with shared savings.
- Resource restructuring: Functional specialization (e.g., maternal/child centers, integrated TCM/Western medicine).
- Workforce redesign: Retrain doctors as general practitioners for prevention/screening. Nurses transition to disease managers. Merge public health and clinical roles.
Compact healthcare communities are a means, not the end. The ultimate goal is a health-centered system that prioritizes prevention, reduces disease burden, and ensures sustainable care. Achieving this requires systemic reforms, payment innovation, and workforce transformation.
(Edit from Media Report)
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