Health Care for 1.3 Billion: Successes and Challenges in China’s Health System Reforms
Speakers: Professor Karen Eggleston (Stanford University)
Type: Public Lecture
Time and Date: 12:30PM-2:00PM, March 30th, 2017 (Thursday)
Location: Room 120, C.K. Choi Building, UBC
Sponsors: Institute of Asian Research, Centre for Chinese Research
About the Speaker:
Karen Eggleston is a faculty member at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University, and the director of the center’s Asia Health Policy Program. She is also a Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
About the Event:
China has made significant progress toward universal health coverage that meets the reasonable expectations of the population and addresses the perennial patient complaint of “kan bing nan, kan bing gui” (getting healthcare is difficult and expensive). Yet many challenges remain. The recently announced 13th 5-year-plan for deepening health system reform issued by the PRC State Council acknowledges that reforms have entered a difficult “high water phase,” with goals that include establishing effective referral systems and expanding family doctor contracting systems to promote trustworthy first-contact care in the community rather than at crowded hospital outpatient departments. This talk will summarize developments in China’s health reforms since the turn of the 21st century, including recent empirical evidence on the impact of expansion of social health insurance on healthcare utilization and survival, and remaining challenges in areas such as public hospital reforms, moving away from fee-for-service payment, and strengthening primary care.
