The Research On Status Of New Rural Cooperative Medical System In Shandong Province

If rural residents cannot receive an overall improvement in health conditions, there would inevitably be a negative impact on society's stability, and it would bring constraints on China's economic development. As such, medical care for rural residents has become of major concern to the government, and a priority for resolution.In 2002, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council made a policy of "Taking a step forward in strengthening healthcare for rural residents." On 10th January 2003, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture jointly issued "Recommendations for establishment of a new rural cooperative medical system " (NRCMS), proposed to be organized and administrated by the government with rural residents'input, and co-sponsored by individuals, organized groups and the government, in order to systematically combat rural health issues-the new system going into effect in trial locations. Being a major hub for agriculture, Shandong Province saw the beginning of action under the new policies in February 2003, setting up seven counties (both cities and districts) as trial locations, initially establishing the NRCMS. After almost seven years of the trials, building upon and perfecting procedures, Shandong reached its target of all 135 counties being included under the NRCMS ahead of schedule in the first half of 2009, with the rate of rural residents'inclusion reaching 98.61%.Zhangqiu is a county-level town under Greater Jinan in Shandong. Since the implementation of the NRCMS in 2004, successful results have been achieved by gradually creating a set of procedures based on local economic status and residents' conditions. Due to its position in the economic development of Shandong Province and China as a whole, Zhangqiu was selected as an investigation base county. Under Jinan Bureau of Health and Zhangqiu Bureau of Health, studies were conducted on the materials used, paying serious attention to experience gained, problems faced and how they were overcome, to grasp how the locality made its successes-which, in turn, developed national policy and how other similar counties across the entire country implement the NRCMS effectively.This paper has incorporated reviews of written materials, group discussions, surveys, interviews, statistics analysis, and cross-sectional case studies to draw conclusions about the effectiveness NRCMS in Shandong Province and Zhangqiu. For the management of the NRCMS in Shandong, there remain a number of problems. These include:low levels of funding, unstable financial resources, the procedures for compensation require simplifying, costs need to be cut, the rate of compensation needs to rise, human resources need to be reformed, more supervisors and managers are needed, there are loopholes in fund management, management procedures should be updated, and some rural clinics and hospitals do not yet meet NRCMS standards. Taking all this into account, this paper presents the following suggestions on policy reform:creating more reasonable policies regarding compensation procedures and expanding on benefits; forging a reformed, innovative management base; improving the level of rural healthcare facilities technologically; raising standards of security in the healthcare system; gaining more stable funding; simplify finance-handling; reduce overheads.