Data map: PET MR medical equipment. Photo: Xinhua News Agency.
In order to promote the construction of internal control in public hospitals, the Ministry of Finance, the National Health Commission, the National Health Insurance Administration, and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Strengthening the Internal Control Construction of Public Hospitals" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions").
Among them, it is clearly required to strengthen asset management, strictly prohibit borrowing to purchase large-scale medical equipment, and standardize the leasing and disposal of state-owned assets. Strengthen the management of capital construction projects, strictly prohibit public hospitals from borrowing for construction and over-standard decoration, and standardize the management of the whole process of capital construction projects. Strengthen the construction and management of multi-hospital districts, strictly prohibit the construction of hospitals without approval, and resolutely put an end to disorderly expansion.
Some provisions of the "Guiding Opinions" can be said to be in line with the shortcomings of the current construction of public hospitals. In the eyes of many hospital managers, the large scale of the hospital, high-end and complete medical equipment is the embodiment of the strength of the hospital, and the introduction of large-scale medical equipment is also considered to be a good way to retain patients, increase business volume and improve the economic situation of the hospital. Many hospitals are worried that they will be left behind when they see local hospitals of the same level introducing large projects and purchasing large equipment, so they follow the trend of introduction and purchase regardless of their own financial situation.
Judging from the development trend, the risk of hospitals borrowing to purchase large-scale medical equipment is increasing. Due to blind expansion and development, large medical equipment in many cities is currently saturated, and some large equipment is idle or semi-idle due to too few patients. Borrowing to buy large-scale equipment, once the utilization rate is not high, will lead to the financial situation of the hospital will be worse. Therefore, controlling the "hand" of public hospitals' borrowing to large medical equipment should be used as an important means of de-risking the medical system.
The medical reform also requires hospitals to be cautious in purchasing large equipment. Strengthening primary medical care is an important part of medical reform, and in the context of limited and relatively constant total social medical resources, strengthening primary medical care is premised on strictly controlling the scale of large hospitals, which includes not only restricting the expansion development of multi-hospital construction, but also borrowing to purchase large-scale medical equipment.
The establishment of third-party medical inspection and inspection institutions, including regional inspection and inspection centers, can avoid duplicate construction of hospitals and improve the efficiency of centralized utilization of inspection and inspection resources, which is recommended by medical reform.
In addition, the purchase of large-scale medical equipment is also an important integrity risk point. Doing what we can and not purchasing unless necessary is not only a respect for the laws of the market and the economy, but also avoids waste and significantly reduces the risk of medical integrity.
At present, with the rapid development of medical information technology, one place to do the examination and the other place to produce results, remote operation under the intelligent equipment has become a reality, which requires large-scale medical equipment to have a higher level of intelligence and informatization.
However, some large-scale medical equipment in the market has not yet completed the technical transformation, and in the context of the rapid development of medical equipment technology and full of many uncertainties, leasing medical equipment is a rational choice.
Not long ago, Guangdong Province issued a relevant notice to carry out relevant medical equipment leasing pilots in medical institutions. This will not only ease the financial pressure, but also make it easier to keep up with the pace of technological development, so that you can change rents at any time and never fall behind. Renting instead of buying is also a solution worth exploring.
Of course, hospitals are strictly prohibited from borrowing to purchase large-scale medical equipment, and it should not come at the expense of a decline in the quality of medical services. In fact, as long as we promote mutual recognition of inspection results, we can reduce many unnecessary inspections and make the large-scale inspection equipment in the outer hospital available to us. This may reduce the hospital's inspection and inspection income, but from another perspective, mutual recognition of results can also reduce the investment in large-scale medical equipment and equipment.
In short, the purchase of large-scale medical equipment by hospitals is not only an economic issue, but also involves related medical reform and technical issues. It is necessary to strictly prohibit hospitals from borrowing to purchase large-scale medical equipment by strengthening the construction of hospital internal control, improving the economic situation of hospitals, distributing medical resources in a balanced manner, and reserving more space for the development of medical information technology.
Edited by Xu Qiuying.
Proofread by Yanjun Zhang.