NHC Regulations on Medical Care Management Urge Accountability, Rational Drug Use, and Treatment Guide Adherence

PRICENTRIC BRIEF:

• The National Health Commission (NHC) of China has issued wide-sweeping guidance on medical care behavior and management, with a focus on accountability and reasonable and rational drug use that promotes increased adherence to national regulations
• All in all, the guidelines aim to strengthen medical behavior and management, further standardize medical behavior, and enhance overall planning and implementation of organizational measures in both day-to-day operations and in the long-term
• Through electronic record-keeping, these regulations are for long-term deployment and oversee resource-sharing among hospitals, rational drug use, adherence to national treatment guidelines, adopted clinical pathways in Class 3 and 2 hospitals, and health technology assessment

THE DETAILS

BEIJING, China – The National Health Commission (NHC) of China has issued wide-sweeping guidance on medical care behavior and management, with a focus on accountability and reasonable and rational drug use that promotes increased adherence to national regulations.

All in all, the guidelines aim to strengthen medical behavior and management, further standardize medical behavior, and enhance overall planning and implementation of organizational measures related to resource-sharing and inspection.

These regulations are for long-term deployment and quality control to best manage resources. Medical institutions must implement and abide by national treatment and diagnosis guidelines and promote the rational use of drugs.

Pharmacists are to be given full play in strengthening prescription review to strengthen national monitoring efforts of drug use, including antibacterial, antitumor, and cardiovascular drugs.

In addition, China is seeking to strengthen medical technology access, clinical pathway management, and health technology assessment; gradually increase the entry rate and completion rate of clinical pathway management; and reduce mutation rates and exit rates. The aim is to apply clinical pathways to the management of 50% of all patients discharged from Class 3 hospitals and 70% of patients from Class 2 hospitals by 2022.

Through electronic record-keeping, the cornerstone of these regulations, China’s hospitals should promote mutual recognition of medical examinations to rationalize their use. Further, hospitals should have mechanisms in place to prevent redundant or unnecessary examinations and treatment.

On how to assess the implementation and adherence to these regulations, NHC stated, “We should learn from the methods and experience of disease diagnosis related groupings ( DRGs ) and resource-based relative value ratios ( RBRVS ), and take technical level, difficulty coefficient, work quality, positive rate of test results, and patient satisfaction as key performance assessments Indicators, so that the income of medical staff truly reflects the value of labor and technology, and achieve excellent performance and rewards.”

A warning system should be in place to hold hospitals accountable and to rectify any issues—hospital leaders will be responsible for any failures in reforming the system accordingly. This is in regard to ensuring resource-sharing, as well medical service pricing, insurance payments, and labor costs.