Table 1.

Reform measures at public hospitals in Beijing

Reform measures	Descriptions of reform measures
Zero mark-up of drug sales	15% mark-up from drug sales removed in all public hospitals
Medical consultation service fees	A tiered schedule: higher level hospitals and senior physicians can charge higher service fees. For example, the consultant service fee for an outpatient visit is raised from ¥5 to ¥50 in tertiary hospitals, ¥30 in secondary hospitals, and ¥20 in primary healthcare facilities (for junior physicians). Patients’ co-payment on medical consultation service fees are ¥10, ¥2, and ¥,1 respectively. For senior physicians, the new consultant service fee is ¥80, ¥70, and ¥60, respectively
Price adjustment	Prices of 435 medical service items are adjusted, with increased prices for surgical operations and traditional Chinese medicine services and decreased prices for medical investigations (eg CT and MRI). All these services with changed prices are covered by social health insurance schemes. The co-payment level remained the same
Availability of medicines	More types of medicine, especially for non-communicable chronic diseases, are available at primary healthcare facilities The length of prescriptions for patients with non-communicable diseases is extended from one month to two months at primary healthcare facilities