Public Stewardship of Private Providers in China's Primary Health Care System

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
(Pacific)
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
Speaker: 

With the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and transition from central planning to a more market-oriented structure since the 1980s, private health care providers have gained market share, especially in provision of primary health care, despite legal and administrative obstacles.  To reach the goals for universal health care coverage, access and quality announced in April 2009 as part of China’s new health reforms, effective government stewardship of non-state health care providers will be crucial. This presentation will give an overview of private providers in the grass roots health delivery system in urban and rural China, as well as evidence from field study. Policy trends in stewardship, contracting out and how private providers can better participate in universe health insurance are discussed.

Yan Wang is deputy director of the Disease Control Division for the Shandong Province Health Department, China, and a visiting scholar with the Asia Health Policy Program at the Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center at Stanford University in 2009-2010. She received her Ph.D. in public health from Shandong University and has been in charge of managing rural and urban community health services for Shandong’s 90 million residents for 10 years. Her research interests focus on evidence to improve policies for primary health care, health insurance, and health promotion.