Building a People-Centred Integrated Care Model in Urban China: A Qualitative Study of the Health Reform in Luohu

INTRODUCTION: China has adopted a people-centred integrated care model to reform its severely hospital-centric and fragmented delivery system. As a template of this model in urban China, the Luohu Hospital Group has generated considerable public and academic interest to scale it up. METHODS: Guided by a policy triangle framework, this qualitative study explored the context, actors, content, and process of founding the Luohu Hospital Group. Three semi-structured interviews and five focus groups were conducted among 35 key informants. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: The reform in Luohu took place in a competitive health care market, based on the comprehensive health reform in Shenzhen. Under the strong leadership of the district government, the reform adopted comprehensive strategies to strengthen primary care and care coordination, improve the quality and efficiency of health care delivery, and promote population health. The reform achieved a high level of organisational integration but was still in the process of fulfilling professional and clinical integration. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION: The establishment of the Luohu Hospital Group transformed the originally fragmented delivery system into a tightly integrated service delivery networks. Though valuable lessons have been generated, the reform and its impacts require ongoing monitoring.