Zhang Qiang and Gong Xiaoming Envision the Future of Healthcare Reform

“At the beginning of the new year, Dr. Zhang Qiang predicted the future direction of healthcare reform at a joint event with Dr. Gong Xiaoming, stating that ‘the 2016 filing-based policy for multi-site practice will be rolled out across provinces and municipalities nationwide, leading to a significant increase in the number of registered practitioners.’”

At this gathering, Dr. Zhang Qiang and Dr. Gong Xiaoming each shared their perspectives.

Regarding multi-site practice, the strongest opposition likely comes from administrators who currently control abundant high-quality medical resources. Many of these administrators fear that they will lose some patient resources if their specialists engage in multi-site practice. However, Dr. Gong Xiaoming and Dr. Zhang Qiang agree that for hospitals serving the public, service is the fundamental mission of both physicians and healthcare institutions. Given the current realities in hospitals, however, with average consultation times of less than two minutes per patient, the quality of service provided fails to meet patient needs, leaving physicians with little choice but to accept this situation. This issue reflects not only the uneven distribution of human resources caused by patients flocking to large hospitals in major cities, but also the broader imbalance in medical capabilities among hospitals across China.

Dr. Gong Xiaoming, who has long been dedicated to physician training, stated that multi-site practice helps enhance physicians’ service orientation and, at a deeper level, contributes to improving the quality of medical services and refining China’s physician training system. The current situation, in which a physician’s competence is largely determined by the caliber of their employing hospital, has led patients to travel long distances to seek care at major hospitals for the sake of their health. If there were a phased, unified standard for physician competency across China, the service orientation throughout the healthcare market would improve significantly. Dr. Gong noted that in the past, physicians lacked time to explain patients’ conditions in detail, while patients, unfamiliar with their own diagnoses, could hardly obtain meaningful information during brief two-minute consultations. Therefore, what physicians need most is more “therapeutic communication” with patients. Even when surgery is required, preoperative communication is crucial; investing time in this process is worthwhile and something physicians are highly willing to engage in.

Dr. Zhang Qiang predicted that the multi-site practice policy under the registration system would be rolled out across provinces and municipalities nationwide in 2016, leading to a significant increase in the number of physicians registering. Although challenges remain—particularly concerning contractual obligations with employing hospitals and institutional resistance—these obstacles should not hinder the progression of China’s healthcare sector toward a more advanced and mature stage. This shift is not only aligned with international trends but also represents the future direction for improving doctor-patient relationships.

Moreover, allowing physicians to practice independently not only liberates them—transforming hospitals into service platforms rather than mere employers—but also restores healthcare to its intrinsic value: letting patients and the market determine the worth of physicians, who in turn must create value through their own efforts. This constitutes the virtuous cycle that the entire healthcare ecosystem should aspire to achieve.