Hospital program signs up first 100

By Wang Yizhou Source:Global Times Published: 2012-9-27 23:30:03

An alliance of local healthcare institutions has selected 100 Huangpu district residents for a pilot program that will give them priority access to specialists at one of the city's premiere hospitals, local media reported Thursday.

The program, which is the first of its kind in the city, works by providing patients with an incentive to go to the city's underutilized community healthcare centers for primary care, rather than heading straight to the major hospitals. If successful, it would offer authorities a potential path toward easing the imbalance in Shanghai's medical resources that has caused long lines and overcrowding at the city's best hospitals.

The situation has strained the resources of those hospitals. Ruijin Hospital in Huangpu district provides outpatient treatment to about 10,000 people each day, said Xie Bing, the office director for RJ-LW Health Alliance, which includes the hospital. That's 10 times the number that similarly sized public hospitals in developed countries typically treat.

The program's 100 participants signed an agreement Tuesday with the RJ-LW Health Alliance at Dapuqiao Community Health Service Center in the district, according to the Oriental Morning Post.

The local government established the alliance in March 2011 as a part of a pilot program to reform the public hospital system. It is made up of Ruijin Hospital, which is a grade-three first-class public hospital - the highest in the country - along with two grade-two public hospitals and four community healthcare centers, the Xinmin Evening News reported.

Under the agreement, a patient with a serious illness can receive priority treatment from specialists at one of the hospitals, but he or she must first get diagnosed by a family physician at a local community healthcare center, according to a press release from the alliance.

"The person will be first on the waiting list to get treated at Ruijin or the other two hospitals," Xie told the Global Times.

The participants will all receive treatment from the most experienced doctors at the hospitals, he added.

The participants are all registered Huangpu residents, according to a family doctor surnamed Wen from Dapuqiao Community Health Service Center. Many are over 70 years old and suffer from cardiovascular or other chronic illnesses. "In the past, many of these people had to wake up at 3 am to line up at a major hospital in order to see a specialist, but now they can see a doctor on their own time," Wen told the Global Times.

As part of the program, Ruijin Hospital and the other two hospitals will also send doctors to train family physicians at the community healthcare centers to help them attract more patients.

Xie said they hope to expand the program to 50,000 people in five years, which is possible because the program is limited to registered Huangpu residents.

 



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