In the 2000s, the Government of the People's Republic of China extended basic health insurance to most of the population. In the 2010s, it introduced a catastrophic medical insurance (CMI) program to further improve urban and rural residents' protection against financial shocks due to inpatient...

Innovation is considered essential to the quality and sustainability of healthcare systems. However, the path from innovative idea to adopted reality is complex and fraught with barriers. The way in which healthcare innovations are financed is often mentioned as a major stumbling block, but a...

Background The diagnosis-intervention packet (DIP) payment reform, utilizing big data for patient classification and payment standardization, was initially developed and piloted in China. Guangzhou, the pilot mega-city, rolled out DIP payment reform in 2018 to regulate medical expenditures. We...

Historic underinvestment, coupled with a growing and ageing population, has led to capacity constraints in public acute hospitals in Ireland. This is evidenced by ageing infrastructure, large waiting lists and long waiting times for elective treatment, as well as pressure on unscheduled care...