Impact of China’s healthcare price reforms on traditional Chinese medicine public hospitals in Beijing: an interrupted time-series study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the 2017 implementation of China’s 2009 healthcare price reforms on Beijing’s secondary and tertiary traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals. DESIGN: We employed a panel-interrupted time-series model with hospital fixed effects to estimate the impact of the price reforms. SETTING: Beijing, April 2014 to April 2018. PARTICIPANTS: All TCM hospitals in Beijing. OUTCOME MEASURES: Our dependent variables comprised the monthly outpatient and inpatient revenues, the number of monthly outpatient visits and inpatient admissions, the average total expenditures per outpatient visit and per inpatient admission, the average drug expenditures (except herbal medicines) per outpatient visit and per inpatient admission and the average medical service expenditures per outpatient visit and per inpatient admission. RESULTS: In tertiary hospitals, the price reforms led to significant reductions in the number of outpatient visits (23.1%), inpatients admission (4.6%) and drug expenditures (except herbal medicines) per inpatient admission (14.0%), and an instant raise in average total expenditure per outpatient (22.0%), medical service expenditures per outpatient visit (58.2%) and inpatient admission (19.0%). There was no significant association between the price reforms and the monthly outpatient and inpatient revenues. After the price reforms, the previous upward trend in medical service expenditures per outpatient visit rose more sharply (from 0.5% to 1.6%). In secondary hospitals, the price reforms decreased the level of drug expenditures (except herbal medicines) per outpatient visit (13.0%) and per inpatient admission (20.8%), but increased medical service expenditures per inpatient admission by 19.0%. CONCLUSION: The Beijing price reforms adjusted the cost structures in secondary and tertiary TCM hospitals without negatively impacting the operation of the hospitals, and through the increased hierarchical medical service fee, shifted patient choices away from tertiary to other health facilities, especially for patients with minor illnesses.