In a research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health, Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler from the Institute for Management, Economics and Healthcare - IMÖVG and Prof. Dr. Barbara Darimont from the East Asia Institute (OAI) at Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society have been investigating areas of quality assurance in Chinese and German hospitals in cooperation with the School of Public Health at the renowned Beijing University since 2017. During a project visit to Beijing from March 12 to 18, the bilateral bilateral exchange has now been intensively continued.
Quality assurance by external institutions, which has recently been given additional weight in Germany, particularly through the 2015 Hospital Structure Law, is a topic "yet to come" in the People's Republic of China. In China, the debate is currently dominated by 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 unbundle 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 a scientific and practical level. This summarizes the main results of a one-week working visit by the project team to Beijing. Following an initial working visit to Beijing University in 2017 and a workshop at the university in Ludwigshafen last year, this was the third project module that brought together experts from both countries for intensive technical discussions. It was also very enriching that students from Beijing University from the fields of medicine and health care management were actively involved in the technical work as well as in accompanying and supporting the foreign guests. The students saw their work as an opportunity to gain experience in international exchange. The discussions were interesting for both sides and offered insightful insights far beyond the specialist topics.
The cooperation partner from Beijing University had put together a challenging program. The appointments with relevant stakeholders made it possible to deepen different perspectives on the topic. Discussions were held in two municipal hospitals of the highest performance level, "Third Level", with the responsible departments of the municipal hospital operator(Beijing Municipal Health Commission Information Center), with representatives of social insurance funds and the China National Health Development Research Center.
The discussions showed that intensive work is being carried out on the further development of the existing multiple DRG systems and the implementation of differentiated cost accounting in hospitals. As emphasized by the China National Health Development Research Center , regional differences in medical terminology pose major challenges for the use of DRGs. In this context, great expectations are placed on the support provided by AI technologies. In contrast to Germany, DRGs have so far only been used in pilot projects for billing services. They mainly serve as the basis for performance evaluation and management by the hospital operator and management. Cost control plays a prominent role here. The data is only published to a limited extent. Concerns about exploding healthcare expenditure were repeatedly expressed, as the PRC 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, 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 with China on many topics. This also includes the health sector. In a research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Health, Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler, Institute for Management, Economics and Healthcare - IMÖVG, and Prof. Dr. Barbara Darimont from the East Asia Institute (OAI), which is affiliated with the university, have been investigating areas of quality assurance in Chinese and German hospitals since 2017. The cooperation partner is Prof. Dr. med. ZHOU Zijun from the School of Public Health at Beijing University, founded in 1898 and one of the most renowned universities in China. Christine Lohse, M.Sc. is a research assistant in the project. Ai-Ming Gao, International Office of the university, supports the scientific exchange in many ways.
Specialist contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society
Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler
Endowed Chair of Management and Controlling in Healthcare
Department of Management, Controlling, HealthCare
Tel. 0621/5203-135
Email: eveline.haeusler@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 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
