From November 21-24, 2022, the Harvard China Health Partnership (HCHP) hosted 188 senior national and provincial-level government officials from China’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) for the “Fourth Annual Flagship Training on Effective and Sustainable Health Care Financing.” Participating virtually this year, the attendees joined from offices in their respective provinces, coordinated by NHSA’s central headquarters in Beijing. The annual training is designed by Dr. Winnie Yip and is a continuation of HCHP’s long-standing efforts to encourage policymakers to consider new approaches to health system reform efforts, introduce global experience as an invaluable source of ideas, and facilitate dialogue between officials from different parts of the country.
NHSA is China’s central government agency which oversees health insurance for 96 percent of China’s population through the basic medical insurance (BMI) fund and social health insurance (SHI) programs. NHSA determines the service packages covered by SHI and designs provider payment mechanisms that incentivize provision of quality care while controlling costs. Over the course of three and half days of the training, participants interacted with prominent domestic and international experts from the United States, Germany, Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China, discussing the international challenges and solutions to creating equitable and sustainable health care financing. The course began with Dr. Winnie Yip providing an overview of global trends in SHI systems, followed by international speakers elaborating on the experience of developing SHI systems in their respective countries, intermixed with domestic speakers analyzing the specific conditions and challenges facing China’s SHI programs, and culminating with a comparison of experiences developing SHI across China and other countries.
The course amassed expertise from prominent academics in different countries and touched on important topics related to social health insurance including provider payment mechanisms, commercial and supplementary insurance, provider performance monitoring, and financing mechanisms. The participants were encouraged to interact with speakers throughout the sessions and often shared their on-the-ground experience confronting challenges in China’s SHI programs.
Prof. Raymond Kuo (National Taiwan University) delivered a lecture on Taiwan’s experience with global budget and points-based payment system, joined by Prof. Winnie Yip and NHSA central headquarters as discussants.
The training concluded with closing remarks from the Deputy Director of NHSA Yan Qinghui, Dr. Winnie Yip, and Dr. William Hsiao on the final day. The program received overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants.
Speakers
Winnie (Chi-Man) Yip |
William (Bill) Hsiao |
Wen Chen |
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Bong-min Yang |
Minglai Zhu |
Reinhard Busse |
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Zongfu Mao
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Luying Zhang
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Min Hu |
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Raymond Kuo |
Li Yang |
Hongqiao Fu |
Weiyan Jian |
Abdo Yazbeck
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