Research on cognition of cooperation between public hospitals and non-public hospitals in development of modern medical service industry in Shanghai

Objective: To investigate the attitude and cognition of health administrative officials and medical staffs on the development of modern medical services in Shanghai, explore the advantages and disadvantages of public hospitals and non-public hospitals, and provide theoretical basis for their cooperation on modern medical services. Methods: The concept of modern medical service industry was defined after literature review and expert interview. The self-made questionnaire was designed based on the results of expert interview, which included the cognition and attitude on the prospect and ways of development of modern medical services in Shanghai, the advantages and disadvantages of public and non-public hospitals, and the feasibility of their cooperation in the development of modern medical services in Shanghai. Four hundred health administrative officials, medical doctors in public hospitals and leaders in non-public hospitals were surveyed by convenient sampling. Results: The modern medical service industry was defined as "a new field which is using modern medical new technology, new forms and new services to transform and upgrade traditional medical services, to create demand for the society, to guide consumption and provide high value-added, multi-level medical services with the development of information technology and knowledge economy". A total of 68.3% of respondents believed that the prospect of modern medical services in Shanghai was promising, and health administrative officials were more optimistic about the prospects than medical doctors in public hospitals (P=0.003). Besides, 74.1% of respondents thought the operation mechanism of Sino-foreign joint venture hospitals was the best mode to develop high-end medical services, and 86.6% of investigators considered that the cooperation between public hospitals and non-public hospitals was feasible. Conclusion: The favorable prospect of modern medical services in Shanghai is generally accepted, and the successful operation mechanism of Sino-foreign joint venture hospitals can provide references for developing modern medical service in Shanghai through cooperation between public hospitals and non-public hospitals, while there still exist some problems about system and mechanism in providing high-end medical services jointly.