Anhui Medical University Reports Findings in Public Health (Analysis of the current status and influencing factors of cross-regional hospitalization services utilization by basic medical insurance participants in China – taking a central …): Health and Medicine – Public Health

2024 JAN 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Health and Medicine - Public Health is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Anhui, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The geographically uneven distribution of healthcare resources has resulted in a dramatic increase of cross-regional hospitalization services in China. The over-use of cross-regional hospitalization services may hinder the utilization and improvement of local hospitalization services.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Anhui Medical University, “It is of great practical significance to study the utilization of cross-regional hospitalization services and its influencing factors in order to effectively allocate medical resources and guide patients to seek medical treatment rationally. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the current situation and influencing factors of the utilization of cross-regional hospitalization services by patients insured by basic medical insurance in China. A total of 3,291 cross-provincial inpatients were randomly selected in a central province of China in 2020. The level of medical institutions, hospitalization expenses and actual reimbursement rate were selected as indicators of hospitalization service utilization. Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the dimensionality of influencing factors and reduce the number of variables, and binomial logistic regression analysis and multiple linear regression analysis to explore the influencing factors of the utilization of cross-regional hospitalization services. The proportion of cross-provincial inpatients choosing tertiary hospitals was the highest with average hospitalization expenses of 24,662 yuan and an actual reimbursement rate of 51.0% on average. Patients insured by Urban Employees’ Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) were more frequently (92.9% vs. 88.5%) to choose tertiary hospitals than those insured by Urban and Rural Residents’ Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI), and their average hospitalization expenses (30,727 yuan) and actual reimbursement rate (68.2%) were relatively higher (< 0.001). The factor ‘income and security,’ ‘convenience of medical treatment’ and ‘disease severity’ had significant effects on inpatients’ selection of medical institution level, hospitalization expenses and actual reimbursement rate, while the factor ‘demographic characteristics’ only had significant effects on hospitalization expenses and actual reimbursement rate. Cross-provincial inpatients choose tertiary hospitals more frequently, and their financial burdens of medical treatment are heavy. A variety of factors jointly affect the utilization of cross-provincial hospitalization services for insured patients.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “It is necessary to narrow down the gap of medical treatment between UEBMI and URRBMI patients, and make full use of high-quality medical resources across regions.”

For more information on this research see: Analysis of the current status and influencing factors of cross-regional hospitalization services utilization by basic medical insurance participants in China - taking a central province as an example. Frontiers in Public Health, 2023;11:1246982. Frontiers in Public Health can be contacted at: Frontiers Media Sa, Avenue Du Tribunal Federal 34, Lausanne, Ch-1015, Switzerland.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Rongfei Ma, School of Health Service and Management, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Tianyu Song, Xiange Zhang, Bangliang Lv, Zihang Li, Mengzi Guo, Min Yuan and Zhiru Tang.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1246982. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Frontiers in Public Health is: Frontiers Media Sa, Avenue Du Tribunal Federal 34, Lausanne, Ch-1015, Switzerland.

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