A rural China policy waiving copayments for essential medicines in primary care (PC) significantly increased PC visits by 44% and outpatient spending at PC facilities by 40%. At the same time, outpatient hospital visits fell by 26%, though hospital spending and inpatient admissions remained unchanged. The findings show that removing copayments effectively shifted care from hospitals to PC but did not impact hospitalizations.
The impacts of removing pharmaceutical co-payments for chronic conditions at primary care level: a pilot study in rural China
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Weijia Lu, Timothy Powell-Jackson, Anne Mills, Qianchen Wei, Hanyi Xu, Beibei Yuan, Ping He, Qingyue Meng, Jin Xu, The impacts of removing pharmaceutical co-payments for chronic conditions at primary care level: a pilot study in rural China, Health Policy and Planning, 12 Aug 2025
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09 Sep 2025
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Weijia Lu, Timothy Powell-Jackson, Anne Mills, Qianchen Wei, Hanyi Xu, Beibei Yuan, Ping He, Qingyue Meng, Jin Xu, The impacts of removing pharmaceutical co-payments for chronic conditions at primary care level: a pilot study in rural China, Health Policy and Planning, 12 Aug 2025