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Review
. 2018 Jun;2(2):33-46.
doi: 10.1016/S2414-6447(19)30138-1. Epub 2019 Sep 25.

Private hospital expansion in China: a global perspective

Chenhui Deng  1   2 , Xiaosong Li  1 , Jay Pan  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Private hospital expansion in China: a global perspective

Chenhui Deng et al. Glob Health J. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the private hospital development in China during 2005-2016 from a global perspective. Methods: We searched the English and Chinese literature in PubMed, CNKI and Google Scholar databases with the keywords including "private hospitals in China", "hospital ownership", "public and private hospital", "private hospital development". Descriptive statistical analysis was used to assess the trend of the private hospital development in China and worldwide. Both the change of private hospitals in supply capacity and health care delivery were studied in this paper. The number of hospitals, number of hospital beds and the average number of hospital beds per hospital were employed to measure the supply capacity. The visit number, inpatients number, and bed occupancy rate (BOR) were used to measure the healthcare delivery. The data was collected from the China Health Statistical Yearbook and the "Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD) Statistics" website. Results: The private sector rapidly expanded in China's hospital market in recent years. The number of private hospitals exceeded the public in 2015. There has also been a significant rise for the indicators of both the supply capacity (including number of hospitals, number of hospital beds and the average number of hospital beds per hospital) and the health care delivery (inpatients number and BOR) of the private hospitals. However, the growth rates of them were relatively lower than the public. The expansion trend of China's private sector in the hospital market accorded with most the OECD countries around the world. In 2016, China was above the medium level of the share of the private hospitals' number with the OECD countries, but below the medium for the supply capacity, in terms of the hospital beds. Conclusion: As a result of the economic growth and supporting policy, the private sector has experienced a vast expansion in China's hospital market in the past decade. The rising gap in average size between private and publicly owned hospitals, and the inconsistent development between the private hospitals' supply capacity and their market share, have become the two main challenges. Meanwhile, the future policy in supporting the private sector should be carefully introduced to advance the whole healthcare delivery system development in China.

Keywords: China; health reform; private hospital; publicly owned hospital.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The share of private hospital number and hospital beds in China, 2005–2016 , , , , , , , , , , ,
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of the number of hospital visits (A) and inpatients (B) between types of hospital ownership in China, 2005–2016 , , , , , , , , , , ,
Figure 3
Figure 3
Share of visits and inpatients in private hospitals in China, 2005–2016 , , , , , , , , , , ,
Figure 4
Figure 4
The comparison of the bed occupancy rate between types of hospitals in China, 2005–2016 , , , , , , , , , , ,
Figure 5
Figure 5
The market share of private and publicly owned hospital number in China and 22 OECD countries
Figure 6
Figure 6
The market share of private and publicly owned hospital beds in China and 22 OECD countries
Figure 7
Figure 7
The trend of private hospitals’ share in China and OECD countries, 2006–2015
Figure 8
Figure 8
The trend of private hospital beds’ share in China and OECD countries, 2006–2015
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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