Health Care Transition in Urban China

The on-going transition to a market economy in China is having a profound effect on health services. As a result, the government has made health one of the key policy areas, and there is now a general recognition of the need to reform urban health services. Multidisciplinary in scope, this exceptional volume draws on a prestigious report to explore how changes in health finance have affected the performance of urban health services in terms of equity and efficiency. Based on empirical evidence from the cities of Nantong, Jiangsu Province and Zibo, Shandong Province (selected for their innovative approach to health system development), the book offers an in-depth understanding of the relationship between transition, health reform and health system performance in urban settings. It features collaboration between European and Chinese academics and Chinese practitioners and officials, providing valuable background and contextual information on a complex system of healthcare, and presenting an analysis of policy impact and likely future direction.

Gerald Bloom is Leader of the Health and Social Change Team at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. Shenglan Tang is a Senior Lecturer in the International Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK.

Contents: China in transition: challenges to urban health services, Gerald Bloom; Introduction to the urban health system and review of reform initiatives, Shenglan Tang and Qingyue Meng; The cities, the people and their health, Youlong Gong, Qingyue Meng, Wei Wang and Shenglan Tang; The health systems of Nantong and Zibo, Qingyue Meng, Zhonghua Weng, Ning Zhuang, Wei Wang, Qiang Sun, Yuelai Lu, Baogang Shu and Gerald Bloom; Access to and use of health care services by employees and their families, Henry Lucas, Jiaying Chen and Zhonghua Weng; Urban health reform in China: the impact on vulnerable groups, Jiaying Chen, Henry Lucas and Youlong Gong; Health and vulnerability, Thomas Uhlemann and Fei Yan; Gendered impacts and implications of health sector reform in the context of multiple transitions in urban China, Rachel Tolhurst, Hilary Standing and Xu Qian; The public hospitals: policy reform, productivity and cost, Qingyue Meng, Clas Rehnberg, Ning Zhuang, Ying Bian and Shenglan Tang; The impact of health insurance reform on hospital charges: a comparison of Nantong and Zibo, Clas Rehnberg, Qingyue Meng, Ying Bian, Ning Zhuang and Shenglan Tang; Conclusions and recommendations, Gerald Bloom, Qingyue Meng and Shenglan Tang; Annex: research methods; Bibliography; Index.