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Journal of Peking University (Health Sciences) ›› 2025, Vol. 57 ›› Issue (3): 417-422. doi: 10.19723/j.issn.1671-167X.2025.03.002

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Policy objectives and tools for the construction of Chinese Medical Consortium: A quantitative study based on policy texts

Biao LI1, Yangcuoji BAO1,2, Xinglin FENG1,*()   

  1. 1. Department of Health Policy and Management, Peking University School of Public Health, Beijing 100191, China
    2. Medical Affairs Department, People's Hospital of Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 814000, Qinghai, China
  • Received:2025-02-07 Online:2025-06-18 Published:2025-06-13
  • Contact: Xinglin FENG

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Abstract:

Objective: This study conducts a text analysis of the policy documents related to Medical Consortium issued at the national level, identify the structural characteristics and utilization of Chinese Medical Consortium policy instruments, evaluate their alignment with policy objectives, uncover the structural contradictions in policy design, and provide a basis for optimizing the Medical Consortium system. Methods: This study systematically searched national-level Medical Consortium policy documents from the PKU Law Database, CNKI Government Document Database using keyword like Medical Consortium. A two-dimensional "policy instrument-policy objective" analytical framework was constructed based on policy instrument theory to quantitatively analyze the frequency, distribution characteristics, and interactive relationships between policy instruments and objectives. Results: A total of 50 national-level Me-dical Consortium policy documents from 2009 to 2024 were included, with 56% issued solely by single departments. The policy text analysis results showed that the government could use diverse policy instruments to achieve objectives, but the structural imbalances existed, environmental policy instruments accounted for the highest proportion (46.48%), mainly focusing on institutional safeguards (27.27%) and organizational governance (22.73%), with minimal focus on public awareness guidance (6.82%). Supply-side policy instruments (38.38%) overly relied on IT infrastructure development (24.77%) and rational allocation of medical resources (24.77%), with insufficient attention to workforce capacity building (9.17%) and financial input (4.59%). Demand-side policy instruments constituted only 15.14%, dominated by health insurance payment (37.21%) and pilot program promotion (32.56%), while market-oriented instruments such as service outsourcing (9.30%) were rarely used. Interaction analysis revealed that policy instruments were concentrated on enhancing primary care service capacity but provided inadequate support for optimizing allocation of medical resources, which indicated a misalignment between policy instruments and policy objective. Conclusion: Chinese Medical Consortium policies exhibit weak interdepartmental coordination and structural imbalances, characterized by excessive reliance on environmental and supply-side instruments, underuse of demand-side tools, and internal misalignment within instrument categories. And policy instruments and objectives are not well matched. To address these issues, future policy formulation should strengthen cross-departmental collaboration, diversify policy instruments, optimize their internal structures, and improve the alignment between instruments and objectives.

Key words: Medical Consortium, Policy analysis, Policy tools, Policy objectives

CLC Number: 

  • R197.1

Figure 1

Medical Consortium policy analysis framework IT, information technology."

Table 1

Distribution of policy instruments"

Instrument type Instrument name Frequency Percentage/%
Supply-side policy instruments Financial input 5 4.59
Workforce capacity building 10 9.17
IT infrastructure development 27 24.77
Primary care capacity building 24 22.02
Enhancing service continuity 16 14.68
Rational allocation of medical resources 27 24.77
Demand-side policy instruments Service outsourcing 4 9.30
Price adjustment 3 6.98
Health insurance payment 16 37.21
Pilot program promotion 14 32.56
Incentive guarantees 6 13.95
Environmental policy instruments Objective planning 29 21.97
Monitoring & Evaluation 17 12.88
Public awareness guidance 9 6.82
Organizational governance 30 22.73
Institutional safeguards 36 27.27
Functional positioning 11 8.33

Table 2

Distribution of policy objectives"

Objective Specific objectives Frequency Percentage/%
Enhance primary care service capacity Improve management proficiency 44 38.94
Elevate service quality 43 38.05
Establish digital health platforms 27 23.89
Optimize allocation of medical resources Strengthen collaborative coordination 13 24.53
Achieve regional resource sharing 30 56.60
Implement two-way referral systems 10 18.87

Table 3

Interaction analysis of policy instrument and objective dimensions"

Dimension Enhance primary care service capacity Optimize allocation of medical resources
Elevate service quality Improve management proficiency Establish digital health platforms Implement two-way referral systems Achieve regional resource sharing Strengthen collaborative coordination
Supply-side policy instruments
  Enhancing service continuity 0 2 0 10 1 2
  Primary care capacity building 19 1 0 0 3 0
  Workforce capacity building 10 0 0 0 0 0
  IT infrastructure development 0 0 27 0 1 0
  Rational allocation of medical resources 3 0 0 0 22 1
  Financial input 2 0 0 0 0 0
  Total 34 3 27 10 27 3
  Percentage/% 32.69 2.88 25.96 9.62 25.96 2.88
Environmental policy instruments
  Functional positioning 0 0 0 0 0 10
  Monitoring & Evaluation 1 2 0 0 0 0
  Objective planning 1 1 0 0 1 0
  Public awareness guidance 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Institutional safeguards 7 15 0 0 2 0
  Organizational governance 0 24 0 0 0 0
  Total 9 42 0 0 3 10
  Percentage/% 14.06 65.63 0.00 0.00 4.69 15.63
Demand-side policy instruments
  Incentive guarantees 0 1 0 0 0 0
  Service outsourcing 0 0 0 0 1 0
  Price adjustment 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Pilot program promotion 2 0 0 0 0 0
  Health insurance payment 0 2 0 0 1 0
  Total 2 3 0 0 2 0
  Percentage/% 28.57 42.86 0.00 0.00 28.57 0.00
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