Objective:To analyze the actual and expected incentives and key issues of telemedicine providers in China and to provide important references for optimizing telemedicine incentive policies.Methods:The sample data came from a questionnaire survey of 1 084 providers in 7 provinces of Fujian, Hainan, Henan, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Qinghai in October and November 2019 and a semi-structured interview data at 6 hospitals in Henan province in January 2020. Descriptive analysis was used to sort such data into text data for classified summation.Results:The greatest gaps were found between actual incentives and expected ones in expense subsidies, title promotion and excellence awards, with such gaps as high as 18.65, 28.26, 29.28 percentages among providers of junior, deputy senior and senior academic titles respectively. Hospitals fall short in providing adequate incentives for telemedicine providers, not to mention lack of differentiation and diversification in personnel incentives, and poor implementation of incentive policies.Conclusions:It is suggested to strengthen incentive demand analysis, break the homogenization bottleneck of incentive policies, and consolidate internal publicity and implementation of incentive policies.

Driven by demand and policy guidance, the construction of Internet hospitals is on a fast track mode in China. To address such a situation, the state requires that before Internet hospitals are admitted, the provincial health authorities should establish an Internet medical service supervision platform to interconnect with the Internet hospital information platform for real-time supervision. This study discussed and introduced the Internet medical service supervision platform in Henan province, covering its system architecture, functions, regulatory indicators and operation mode. The platform is officially in operation and has completed docking with 7 medical institutions. It can implement entire process supervision with a total of 186 indicators in five categories in Henan, providing a reference for the construction of Internet medical service supervision platforms in other provinces.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the regional epidemic features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Henan Province, China. METHODS: According to the data of COVID-19 patients and the resident population at the end of 2018 in Henan Province, statistical description and analysis of epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in Henan Province were conducted, including the time distribution, population distribution, and regional distribution. RESULTS: The cumulative incidence of COVID-19 in Henan Province was 1.32/100 000, the cure rate was 98.03%, and the fatality rate was 1.73% by March 9, 2020. The incidence curve showed that the epidemic peak reached from January 24 to January 28. The high-incidence area was Xinyang, with a standardized cumulative incidence rate of 4.36/100 000. There were 580 female COVID-19 patients (45.60%), 688 males (54.09%) in Henan Province. The incidence of males was 1.41/100 000, while the incidence of females was 1.23/100 000. The age with the highest incidence of COVID-19 in Henan Province was 20-69 years old (88.68%). The incidence rate was highest in men aged 30-39 (2.51/ 100 000), while the lowest rate in women aged 0-9 (0.16/100 000). There were 1 225 local patients (96.31%), and the rural patients (45.73%) were slightly higher than the urban patients (44.02%) in Henan Province. A total of 63.60% patients had traveled or lived in Hubei or contacted with people who came from Hubei to Henan. The proportion of patients whose family members suffered from COVID-19 was 32.70%. Global spatial autocorrelation analysis suggested that there was a statistically significant positive correlation in the spatial distribution of COVID-19 patients in Henan Province (Moran's =0.248, =2.955, <0.01). CONCLUSIONS There are differences in the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 patients in different areas of Henan Province, with epidemic peak reaching from January 24 to January 28. Henan is dominated by local patients, male patients, and patients with contact history in Hubei. The space appears to be moderately clustered.
Adult ; Aged ; Betacoronavirus ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Coronavirus Infections ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; epidemiology ; Spatial Analysis ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE： To evaluate the economics of the full coverage policy for hypoglycemic essential medicines in Taizhou city， and to provide reference for improving medicine accessibility and essential medicine system in China. METHODS： The electronic health records and financial input data of diabetic patients were extracted from different districts and counties of Taizhou city during 2009-2016. In cohort study design， taking the implementation time of each district and county’s policies as the breakpoint， the data recorded annually were processed as annual data， forming the cohort data for 1 year before （baseline year） and 3 years after the implementation of the policies. According to the choice of free medicines after the implementation of the policy， they were divided into policy group and control group. Propensity score matching was used to balance the differences between two groups to get the final sample， and then the economics of the policy was evaluated with the methods of difference-in-differences. The cost and benefit of implementation policy were calculated. RESULTS： Totally 14 744 people of each group were got by propensity score matching. The mean annual financial expenses on free medicine per capita were 263.8 yuan. Compared with baseline year， mean annual medicine expenses per capita reduced by the policy were 649.2 yuan， and mean annual hospitalization expenses per capita were 624.7 yuan. Thus the input-output ratio of the policy was 1 ∶ 4.8. CONCLUSIONS： The implementation of the policy is beneficial to reduce the cost burden of patients and economical. It can be popularized and sustained through scientific design combined with relevant policies.

OBJECTIVE：To e xplore the health economic burden of hypertension patients at county-level areas and its influential factors in China. METHODS ：A questionnaire survey was conducted on hypertension patients in 7 county-level public hospitals from 6 provinces as Hebei ，Shandong，Shanxi provinces by using a convenient sampling method. Catastrophic health expenditure was defined by the standard of “medical and health expenditure exceeding 10％ of household income ”. The incidence ， average gap and relative gap of catastrophic health expenditure were analyzed. A multi-factor Logistic regression model analysis was used to analyze the influential factors that lead to catastrophi c health expenditure. RESULTS ：A total of 1 378 questionnaires were sent out ，and 925 valid questionnaires were collected with effective rate of 67.13％ . The incidence of catastrophic health expenditure，average gap and relative gap among hypertension patients were 23.03％，19.37％ and 84.12％，respectively. At different income levels ，the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure，average gap and relative gap were 72.67％ ， 96.79％ and 133.18％ in the poorest household group ，and were 1.94％ ，0.47％ and 24.23％ in the richest household group. Among different types of medical insurance ，the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure in patients covered by “New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme （NRCMS）”the highest （31.30％）. The household income ，complications and the type of health insurance had significant impacts on the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure in hypertension patients （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS：The incidence of catastrophic health expenditure in hypertension patients with different income levels is different. As the income level raised ，the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures continued to decrease. But the protection of household health expenditure by NRCMS is weak. It is suggested that a certain policy preference should be given to families with low income and patients with chronic diseases ，so as to ensure the rights and interests of patients with hypertension .