Analysis on the service utility of rural outpatient clinics in the pilot counties operating New Rural Cooperative Medical System in Yunnan

Objective: To offer the evidence to formulate the measure of the rational complement proportion on out-patient clinic expenses by investigating the service utility of rural clinics under New Rural Cooperative Medical System(NRCMS).Methods: Applying the approach of Stratified Cluster Sample to investigate the situation of sickness rate of two-week and seeking health rate of two-week among 13468 persons of 3373 households in three pilot counties operating NRCMS.Results: The two-week’s sickness rate and the two-week’s seeking health are 12.72%is 8.8% respectively,less than the average level of 13.95% and 13.92% in rural areas(data from The 3rd National Health Service Survey).The agencies sought are village clinics,private clinics and township health center.The rate of no-seeking health reaches 21.3%,significantly lower than the rural average rate of 45.8% in the 3rd National Health Service Survey;and self purchasing medication contributes to it on the major,with the rate of 75.8%.The findings of non-conditional Logistic regression analysis show that the following factors influence the rate of two-week’s seeking health: population number of the household,age,sex,the situation whether suffering chronic diseases or not,and the situation whether owning household account or not.Conclusion: To strengthen training for the rural health staff and increase investment on rural health source,encourage and support private health agencies,and strengthen the control on drug’s price and the management of medication sales to provide the excellent but cheap health service for the rural people attending the NRCMS.