China to further support private healthcare services

The State Council issued a circular that put forward opinions on encouraging development of diverse private healthcare services, in an attempt to meet people's growing demand for healthcare and regulate the private medical market.

The circular stated a target for setting up a number of competitive private healthcare institutions and cultivating several influential healthcare industry clusters by 2020, to meet basic domestic demand and form a new structure of diverse and multi-layered healthcare services.

The diverse services encouraged in the circular include general practice clinics, specialist healthcare, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), frontier technological medicine, and personalized services.

Service segmentation is encouraged, stated the circular, which urged social efforts to build competitive brands in specialist healthcare, such as ophthalmology, orthopedics, oral cavity and pediatrics, and in the fields of rehabilitation, nursing and physical examination.

The circular stated private TCM institutions will be encouraged to offer easier treatment process, high-quality treatment, healthcare, rehabilitation services, elderly care, and health tourism.

Also, private healthcare institutions are encouraged to integrate their services with elderly care and tourism, and with the internet and the sports industry.

The circular stated that pilot practices on building healthcare industry clusters are welcome in regions with corresponding medical resources and location.

To boost the social healthcare market, local governments will lower the entry threshold and open the market to any applicant that acquires qualification, and carry out trans-department and whole-process reviews of private healthcare institutions for registration.

In addition, the government encourages private healthcare institutions to bring in strategic investors to optimize capital use in brand development and management, and to explore the model of entrusting well-known medical institutions and companies with business operations.

According to the circular, the government will increase policy support to help private institutions grow, including strengthening personnel cultivation, introducing basic medical insurance, tax preferential policies and land supplies.