A Study On Selection Preference Of Health Management Service In Urumqi

Objective: Under the context of the supply-sided reform in China,this paper makes an empirical study on the actual choices of and preferences for the health management services among the urban residents in Urumqi,and analyzes the difference between their actual choices and preferences.With reference to measurements on the preferences and willing-to-pay for the health management services from the discrete choice model,this paper comes up with feasible suggestions on health management service supply based on actual needs.The conclusions are of reference value for governmental decision-making.Methods: Reviewed existing domestic and foreign studies on health management service preferences,identified the factors that may affect such preferences,determined the nature and level of the discrete choice experiment based on group discussion and expert counseling,made orthogonal design with Ngene 1.1.1,and prepared the questionnaire on discrete choice experiment.A total of 1,155 questionnaire samples were distributed in 7 districts in Urumqi from July to October,2019,1,124 of which were collected,achieving an effective rate of 97.32%.The chi-square test was conducted for single factor analysis.The Mixed Logit regression analysis of the preferences and willing-to-pay for the health management services of the residents was made.Results:(1)The actual choices of the health management institutions of the residents conform to their preferences.All residents prefer to choose the health management departments of the public hospitals.When choosing the health management institutions,the residents value comprehensive strength(82.12%),service quality(46.53%)and service soundness(40.39%)the most.(2)When it comes to the actual choice of the health management services,the residents choose health examination(98.67%)and health education(51.69%)much more often than other service items.(3)When the health needs are taken into consideration only,the preference priority claimed by the residents is ranked in the order of health examination(99.47%),health examination report interpretation(46.62%),health risk evaluation(45.82%),dietary prescriptions(42.30%),health archiving(39.68%),health education(37.46%),exercise suggestions(36.83)and psychological counseling(34.16%).(4)The residents have a relatively poor understanding on health management services other than health examination and its related services.Their actual choice of and preference for other health management services are largely decided by their understanding on health management projects.(5)All the preset factors have significant impact on the residents’ choices of the health management services.On the whole,the residents care about the service provider the most.The most productive scheme is the health management departments of public hospitals,health education and counselling / intervention,diverse online services,traditional Chinese medicine services,and contractual family doctors.(6)The residents show stronger willing-to-pay for any health management services as long as their needs are met.Conclusion: It is imperative to advance the structural reform of the health management service industry,complete the transition from health examination to health management,give play to to the role of all health examination management institutions,do a better job to promote the policies,and guide the residents to seek for health management services from the community healthcare centers and the private health examination / management institutions.More efforts should be made to offer both online and offline services.The health service pattern of contractural family doctors should be encouraged.In this way,part of the health management services can shift from being free of charge to getting paid for.