Non-profit Medical Institutions, Medical Pricing Issues

Pricing decision of medical treatment service for non-profit health-care organization is the important content of the management for health-care area. Reasonable and effective pricing decision is the approach of guiding behavior of health-care organization and the patient. It is also the tool of realizing social fairness and welfare allocation, the supplement of incoming policy, and the base of guarantee the health of the people and stabilization of the society.The paper analyses current pricing decision level, price structure and pricing decision method of medical treatment service of non-profit health-care organization in Shanghai, we find that those activities are not suitable for current economy environment, because their pricing decision follow the mode of socialized medicine. This leads to some problems, such as the increase of profit-oriented behavior in health-care organization, the capacity of social medical treatment insurance could not bear the drastic increasing of the expenses on medical treatment insurance. Therefore, the reform of the price decision on medical treatment service is quite critical at the moment.The study of pricing decision theory on medical treatment shows that, since non-profit health-care organization is the monopoly area, and there exists the factor of market failure, the self-control mechanism of pricing could not realize the optimum ordonnance of health-care resources. And it cannot come into the fairness of distribution, stable of market and enough supplement of medical treatment service. So, to proceed to the pricing decision of medical treatment service must be done on the way of pricing decision by government. The pricing decision of medical treatment service should not only consider the target of pricing decision, but also the bearing capability of health-care organization, patient and the social insurance institution under the conditions of production, market and profit.Normally, there are four mode of pricing decision in the world. They are pricing decision on cost, pricing decision on the bearing capability of patient, pricing decision on opportunity cost of investment and pricing decision on marginal cost. According to the analyze of normal pricing decision methods, it is reasonable to use pricing model of Feldstein on the assumption of the demand relatively independent, with the mode of pricing decision on cost plus bearing capability.According to the analyze of the elements of pricing decision for health-care service, we bring forward the pricing decision countermeasure for six elements, which are supply-demand, cost of pricing decision, quality, behavior of patient, policy of medical treatment and financial allowance of medical treatment. We design the special pricing decision tactic based on DRGs-PPS , price discrimination, multi-goal optimization, pricing of economics estimation and hearing of witness on pricing, etc. We also bring forward the new reference pricing decision on health-care service, innovatively using for reference of the newest aboard tacticof pricing decision on medicine.There must be a matched policy environment if we want to make a successful implementation on new decision-making of pricing decision. We propose to the supervisor that it is necessary to set up a reasonable pricing decision system and a watch system.The study of the pricing decision of medical treatment service for non-profit health-care organization in Shanghai would be helpful to realize the problems of the pricing decision on medical treatment service area at the moment. It would be also a reference to the reform of the whole health and medical treatment area. People in the area should see that it is necessary and critical for the reform. To make the self-assessment is the way to face the competition after China entered WTO.