In a research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health, Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler from the Institute for Management, Economics and Care in the Health Sector - IMÖVG and Prof. Dr. Barbara Darimont from the East Asia Institute (OAI) of the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society have been investigating fields of action of quality assurance in Chinese and German hospitals in cooperation with the School of Public Health of the renowned Beijing University since 2017. In a project stay from March 12 to 18 in Beijing, the bilateral bilateral exchange was now intensively continued.
Quality assurance by external institutions, as it has recently gained additional weight in Germany, especially through the Hospital Structure Act 2015, is a topic "yet to come" in the People's Republic of China. The Middle Kingdom is currently dominated by the debate on Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs), a system for the diagnosis-related categorization of patients. In addition, recently introduced, far-reaching reorganization measures, which are intended to ensure the disentanglement of institutional responsibility for hospital care on the one hand and social insurance on the other, are tying up capacities. There is great interest in exchanges with Germany at both the scientific and practical levels. This is how the main results of a one-week working visit of the project team to Beijing can be summarized. Following an initial working visit to Beijing University in 2017 and a workshop at the University of Applied Sciences in Ludwigshafen last year, this was already the third project module that brought together experts from both countries for intensive technical discussions. It was also very enriching that students from the fields of medicine and health care management at Beijing University were actively involved in the technical work as well as in accompanying and supporting the foreign guests. The students saw their assignment as an opportunity to gain experience in international exchange. The discussions were interesting for both sides and offered insightful insights far beyond the professional topics.
The cooperation partner from Beijing University had put together a challenging program. The appointments with relevant actors allowed to deepen different perspectives on the topic. Discussions were held in two municipal hospitals of the highest service level, "Third Level", with the responsible department of the municipal hospital operator(Beijing Municipal Health Commision Information Center), with representatives of social insurance funds and the China National Health Development Research Center.
The discussions showed that intensive work is being done on the further development of the existing multiple DRG systems and the implementation of differentiated cost accounting in the hospitals. As emphasized by the China National Health Development Research Center , regional differences in medical terminology pose major challenges to the use of DRGs. In this context, great expectations are being placed on the support provided by AI technologies. In contrast to Germany, DRGs have so far only been used in pilot projects for service billing. They mainly serve as the basis for performance evaluation and control by the hospital operator and the management. Cost control plays a prominent role in this. Publication of the data only takes place in rudimentary form. Concerns about exploding health care expenditures were expressed again and again, as the People's Republic of China is in the process of establishing nationwide health insurance coverage and the associated cost increases are considered difficult to calculate. External quality assurance, as it is increasingly being formulated in the legal regulations in the PRC as well, is only at an early stage of implementation and is seen more as an issue for the future.
Background:
The Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society maintains good working contacts in the Middle Kingdom on many topics. This also includes the health sector. In a research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health, Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler, Institute for Management, Economics and Care in the Health Sector - IMÖVG, and Prof. Dr. Barbara Darimont from the university-affiliated, East Asia Institute (OAI) have been investigating fields of action for quality assurance in Chinese and German hospitals since 2017. Cooperation partner is Prof. Dr. med. ZHOU Zijun from the School of Public Health of Beijing University, founded in 1898, one of the most renowned universities in China. Scientific collaborator in the project is Christine Lohse, M.Sc. In various ways, Ai-Ming Gao, International Office of the university, supports the scientific exchange.
Contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society
Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler
Endowed Chair for Management and Controlling in the Health Care Sector
Department of Management, Controlling, HealthCare
Tel. 0621/5203-135
E-mail: eveline.haeusler@hwg-lu.de
Prof. Dr. Barbara Darimont
Professor of Economics of China
East Asia Institute
Department of Marketing and Human Resource Management
Tel. 0621/5203-430
E-mail: darimont@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 oai.de
