Public Hospitals in China: Is There a Variation in Patient Experience with Inpatient Care

Wenhua Wang, Ekaterina (Katya) Loban and Emilie Dionne
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Wenhua Wang: Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1M5, Canada
Ekaterina (Katya) Loban: Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1M5, Canada
Emilie Dionne: Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1M5, Canada

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: In China, public hospitals are the main provider of inpatient service. The Chinese public hospital reform has recently shifted towards health care organizations and delivery to improve health care quality. This study analyzes the variation of one of the dimensions of health care quality, patient-centeredness, among inpatients with different socioeconomic status and geographical residency in China. 1471 respondents who received inpatient care in public hospitals were included in our analysis. Patient-centeredness performance was assessed on the dimensions of Communication, Autonomy, Dignity, and Confidentiality. Variations of inpatient experience were estimated using binary logistic regression models according to: residency, region, age, gender, education, income quintile, self-rated health, and number of hospital admissions. Our results indicate that older patients, and patients living in rural areas and Eastern China are more likely to report positive experience of their public hospital stay according to the care aspects of Dignity, Communication, Confidentiality and Autonomy. However, there remains a gap between China and other countries in relation to inpatient experience. Noticeable disparities in inpatient experience also persist between different geographical regions in China. These variations of patient experience pose a challenge that China’s health policy makers would need to consider in their future reform efforts.

Keywords: public hospital; patient centeredness; patient responsiveness; patient experience; inpatient care; disparities; equity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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