Abbott Laboratories

Since the reform and opening up, China's medical service system has undergone many reforms and has undergone earth-shaking changes. In terms of medical and health insurance, the employer-based urban medical insurance system (i.e. social welfare and labor protection insurance) and the rural cooperative medical system that had served the majority of the population have exited the stage, replaced by basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents, and basic medical insurance for employees. This new system has covers more than 95% of the population, initially established as a medical security system to adapt to the market economy system. In terms of the number of medical and health institutions, by the end of 2017, the total number of medical and health institutions nationwide reached 987,000, an increase of 12,000 compared with 2013, of which the total number of hospitals reached 31,000, an increase of about 6,000 from 2013; the national medical and health institutions hospital beds reached 7.94 million, an increase of 1.758 million compared with 2013, the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people among medical institutions increased from 4.6 in 2013 to 5.7 in 2017, and the number of licensed assistant physicians per thousand people increased from 2 in 2013 to 2.4 in 2017. The number of registered nurses per thousand people increased from 2 in 2013 to 2.7 in 2017. In terms of medical and health services, the total number of medical treatments and services in national medical and health institutions reached 8.18 billion in 2017, an increase of 870 million compared with 2013, and the number of hospitalizations was 240 million, an increase of 50 million compared with 2013. Among public hospitals above the second tier, 81.4% carried out clinical pathway management, and 86.3% participated in the mutual recognition of peer to peer examination results. As of the end of 2017, average life expectancy in the country increased from 74.8 years in 2010 to 76.7 years in 2017, and the infant and child mortality rate and maternal mortality rate both achieved the United Nation Millennium Development Goals ahead of schedule.

At the same time, in terms of health care costs, due to changes in population migration and structure, changes in the types and structure of diseases, the introduction of new medical treatment technologies, and the improvement of living standards, medical and health costs have grown rapidly. From 3.17 trillion yuan in 2013 to 5.16 trillion yuan in 2017, the average annual growth rate is 13%, which is twice the growth rate of China's GDP during the same period. The proportion of health care costs to GDP increased from 5.5% in 2013 to 6.2% in 2017. Social health expenditures (mainly medical insurance expenditures) increased from 1.14 trillion in 2013 to 2.12 trillion in 2017, an average annual increase of 16.7%, which put heavy pressure on basic medical insurance funds, and some regions have even been unable to make ends meet.

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