OBJECTIVE To sort out reform policy for basic medical insurance designated retail pharmacy （referred to as designated retail pharmacy） in China， and to provide reference for the improvement of the policy under the new situation of mutual- aid mechanism for covering outpatient bills. METHODS The policy texts on designated retail pharmacies issued by ministries and commissions of the State Council and departments directly under the State Council were collected from December 1998 to June 2023. The content analysis and social network analysis were adopted to construct a three-dimensional analytical framework based on the policy subject， the policy tool， and the policy process， in order to quantitatively analyze the policies on reforming designated retail pharmacies. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS The reform policy of designated retail pharmacies can be roughly divided into three stages： germination， exploration and development， and in-depth promotion. The use of policy tools is dominated by environment-oriented tools， and the cooperation network of policy subjects presents a “head-body-tail” chain structure. With the advancement of policy reforms， the number of policy subjects showed a trend of decline followed by growth， the number of policy documents showed an upward trend， emphasizing the use of tools such as the construction of the pharmacist system， the flow of prescriptions， the payment of medical insurance， and the management of “dual-channels” and “outpatient co-ordination”. It is suggested that in terms of policy formulation， all policy subjects should adhere to top-level design， grasp the characteristics of the stage of policy development， and adjust the use of policy tools according to local and timely conditions； we should also strengthen cooperation and communication， improve policy formulation efficiency， achieve policy coordination， and continuously improve policies for designated retail pharmacies.