Developing a Rural Healthcare System

Abstract

Background: Healthcare related welfare is a matter of resource allocation. In modern market economies, redistribution in Western societies is accomplished through state welfare systems to balance the inequality of market resource allocation. However, resource allocation in socialist countries has its own peculiarities. And the relationship between market transformation (social transformation) and resource allocation methods in post-socialist countries is an important academic topic. This paper examines the changes in the rural cooperative medical system（RCMS）in China in order to explore the changes in rural cooperative healthcare governance mechanisms during recent social transformation. Objectives: The main purpose of this paper is to place the rural cooperative health care system（RCMS）in a macroeconomic-political context and to compare the changes in cooperative health care resource allocation mechanisms across time. Methods: The article undertakes a narrative literature review approach and method. The review used the following sources: Web of Science and PubMed. The search used the keywords" rural cooperative medical care system", "community benefits", " public service-based welfare" and "governance",and limited to articles published between January 2019 and June 2022. The selection of articles was based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria (keywords defined and time span of publication). Results: From collectivized cooperative medical care System（RCMS） to today's New Rural Cooperative Medical System（NRCMS), its governance mechanism has changed and the nature of welfare has changed with it. It has also changed from community welfare, where organized grassroots communities supply medical services, to government-led public service-based welfare. Main Contribution to Evidence-Based Practice: The paper shows the process of change in China's rural cooperative healthcarel system（RCMS), mainly analyzing the change of healthcare welfare governance mechanism. Thus ,it provides a reference for governmental health policies development and for international researchers.