By Fineline Cube 
The General Office of China’s National Health Commission has issued a notice outlining key tasks for the comprehensive pilot zones of primary healthcare in 2025. The directive emphasizes the importance of studying and applying the experiences from the Sanming healthcare reform and the first batch of typical reform and innovation experiences from primary healthcare pilot zones. The goal is to facilitate the coordinated development and governance of the “three medical” systems (healthcare, medical insurance, and medicine), deepen institutional reforms, and promote the construction of a tiered diagnosis and treatment system.
Key Tasks for Pilot Zones
National and provincial pilot zones are instructed to lead in implementing the annual key tasks of primary healthcare to a high standard:
- Strengthening County-Level Healthcare Services: Ensure full coverage of personnel postings from county-level hospitals to township health centers and community health service centers by the end of 2025. Expand child common disease diagnosis and treatment services to all relevant centers.
- Family Doctor Contract Promotion: Introduce personalized service packages for contract signing and implement contract fees, aiming to increase the contract signing rate by 1-3 percentage points compared to the previous year.
- Chronic Disease Management Optimization: Incorporate dietary and exercise guidance for chronic diseases, obesity, and other conditions into primary medical services.
Reform and Innovation Initiatives
National pilot zones are encouraged to pursue reform and innovation, serving as models for others:
- Medical Insurance Policy Enhancement: Support tiered diagnosis and treatment with improved medical insurance policies and establish long-term mechanisms for county-level medical consortia personnel to work at the grassroots level.
- Medical Insurance Outpatient Pool Fund Allocation: Explore per capita payment of medical insurance outpatient pool funds to family doctors (teams) for contracted residents, ensuring no less than 70% of contract service fees are used for contract service personnel salaries.
- Village Doctor Transition and Support: Promote the “hire by township, work in village” model, accelerate the transition of village doctors to licensed (assistant) physicians, and increase operational subsidies for village clinics and job subsidies for village doctors.
- Talent Development: Cultivate at least 30 talents with composite medical, preventive, and management skills in each pilot zone in 2025.
- Service Fee Mechanisms: Promote the establishment of service fee mechanisms for nutritional and exercise assessments and guidance.
- Public Health Integration: Leverage the role of village (residents’) public health committees, integrate primary healthcare into community grids, and advance social co-governance.-Fineline Info & Tech