Exploring the Sustainability of Integrated Elderly Care and Medical Services Policies in China from the Perspective of Policy Tools

Abstract

The trend of increasing population aging has led to an international and Chinese domestic consensus on the need to integrate elderly care and medical services. Against this background, China's existing policies address the integration of elderly care and medical services (IECMS) successively. However, it is worth pondering whether China's policies on the IECMS have been effectively developed. Previous studies on the IECMS policies in China have mostly focused on the national level, and the evaluation dimensions of these studies are not comprehensive enough. Based on this, this study took the policy tools as primary perspective, constructed a three-dimensional analysis framework that included time and specific models of IECMS, and used content analysis to analyze and evaluate the policy texts related to the IECMS in Jinan City. The aim is to explore policy tools to improve integrated elderly care and medical services, promote the sustainable development of integrated elderly care and medical services in China, and provide Chinese experience for other countries. This study found that the use of policy tools in Jinan City had a trend toward comprehensiveness and diversification, but there is still room for further comprehensiveness and diversification. Moreover, there is an apparent preference in the use of policy tools, as evidenced by the most frequent use of environmental policy tools, and at the same time an imbalance in the internal structure of the three types of policy tools. Furthermore, the policies of Jinan City were not sufficiently targeted to operationalize policy tools into specific models of IECMS. Accordingly, we provide corresponding recommendations, including stating that the IECMS policies should be multifaceted and innovative, even-handed, precise, and timely to restore policy order in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.