Health And Family Planning Commission Of Sichuan Province Of Large Medical Equipment Procurement Management Reform Case Studies

The provincial public health management organizations in China have been lack of scientific management for the whole process of large medical equipment procurement for a long time.They took only in charge of the recording management of those procurement,including project establishment,purchasing channel and process,and the useage evaluation.This leads to the unreasonable allocation of large medical equipment in public hospitals,as well as the poor allocation and effectiveness of public financial resources.Some medical equipment are kept idling or not fully used in first and second-level hospitals,while inadequate allocation of equipment in third-level hospitals.At the same time,the unreasonable increase of large medical equipment also results in the waste of resources and the abuse of medical inspection.Moreover it can lead to possible corruption.Therefore,it is of great significance to strengthen the management of the procurement process of large medical equipment.As a typical public health management administrative department,Health and Family Planning Commission of Sichuan Province has launched the reform of management of large medical equipment procurement in the provincial public hospitals since June,2014.The reform is to establish a set of management tools for large medical equipment procurement in public hospitals,including project establishment critiria,channel evaluation,process standerization and price query system.Through the reform,Sichuan HFPC strives to realize a reasonably classified large medical equipment allocation within the scope of whole province and to achieve the optimization of public finance.Firstly,the paper reviewed China’s laws and regulations and policies about large medical equipment management,as well as related research literature and practical achievement both at home and abroad regarding Type-II large medical equipment procurement management.Secondly,the background and key point of the reform of large medical equipment procurement promoted by Sichuan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission for public hospitals were introduced in the paper.Moreover,the main content and changes brought by the reform were examined,especially in the aspects of project establishment,channel and process management.Finally,the paper analyzed the successful experiences and deficiencies of the reform,and put forward some relevant policy suggestions and solutions for further deepening this reform.According to this study,the way and the practice of the reform have a certain reference value for the provincial public health management organizations in other regions of China to strengthen the management of large medical equipment procurement.The frame work extracted from the reform,such as ’scientific project establishment,flat purchasing channel,transparent purchasing process,and effective use of public financial resources’,not only have the promotion value in public health and medical institutions and health management areas,but also be very enlightening for other public sectors.