Table 1.

Basic information of Junan County in 2010

Indicators	Value
Population
Total	1012151
-Rural (%)	764599 (75.5)
-Urban (%)	247552 (24.5)
-Male (%)	517298 (51.1)
-Female (%)	494853 (48.9)
Economy (RMB)
GDP in Junan	16175 million
Rural net income per capita in Shandong	6990
Rural net income per capita in Linyi	6761
Rural net income per capita in Junan	6665
Urban net income per capita in Junan	14908
Health providers (the number of workers)
County-level
-General hospital	1 (582)
-Traditional medicine hospital	1 (151)
-Maternal and child care service centre	1 (84)
Town-level
-Township health centers	16 (707)
Village-level
-Village clinics	511 (1705)

Data source: Population and economy data are from Linyi Statistics Bureau; health providers’ information is from baseline survey of health institutions in Junan conducted in May 2011.

Note: There were 18 towns in Junan from 2007 to 2009 but 14 in 2010 and 2011 since four towns were separated from Junan to construct a new economic development center under direct supervision of Linyi City. Although the official statistics of population and economy still included the four towns, the NCMS-related issues, financing, reimbursement, information system and health providers were already independent from Junan after 2009. Therefore, in order to keep our study sample consistent during the five years, only the 14 towns without administrative adjustment were included in the study.