Open AccessBuilding a People-Centred Integrated Care Model in Urban China: A Qualitative Study of the Health Reform in Luohu
Author(s) -
Dan Liang,
Minggui Lin,
Yingyao Chen,
Ping Zhou,
Xiaoguang Yang,
Jiayan Huang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of integrated care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 1568-4156
DOI - 10.5334/ijic.4673
Subject(s) - integrated care , context (archaeology) , government (linguistics) , health care reform , service delivery framework , health care , focus group , qualitative research , public relations , nursing , china , business , medicine , service (business) , public health , health policy , sociology , economic growth , political science , marketing , economics , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , social science , law , biology
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.