Hospital Grade Resource Allocation Effects Of The Charging System Of Our Country

Healthcare reform has become one national priority of China's construction of a socialist harmonious society. In the health sector, government regulation aims at controlling health price and ensuring health equity. Hospitals are classified into three grades and prices for healthcare are regulated. In this thesis, attention was focused on the examination of hospital behavior under price regulation. Based on China's demand for healthcare service provided by different hospitals, the author developed a vertical difference competitive model, analyzed the effects of government's resource allocation and price regulation in the health sector, and provided a theoretical framework for policy recommendations and related healthcare reforms in China.In the thesis, the author found that increasing healthcare price could promote hospitals to improve healthcare quality. Demand for healthcare services depends on both healthcare quality and healthcare price. Healthcare prices not only exert direct influence on demand, but also indirectly affect demand by influencing healthcare quality. Expanding price difference among hospitals with different grades could transfer patients from high-grade hospitals to low-grade hospitals. However, it might decrease access to healthcare services. Reallocating health resources appropriately could coordinate demand for and supply of healthcare services by changing healthcare qualities, which could improve efficiency of health resource utilization and access to healthcare services.