Table 1 Health needs and healthcare seeking behaviors before and after China’s health system reform
| Â | 2008 | 2013 | Relative change (%) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Health needs | ||||
 Prevalence within 2 weeks (mean‰[mean ± SD]) | 18.9 (15.1, 22.8) | 24.1 (19.9, 28.3) | 27.5% | < 0.001 |
 Prevalence of chronic diseases (mean‰[mean ± SD]) | 24.1 (20.4, 27.8) | 33.1 (29.0, 37.2) | 37.3% | < 0.001 |
Outpatient healthcare seeking behavior | ||||
Outpatient visits within 2 weeks (mean%[mean ± SD]) | 14.5 (8.4, 20.6) | 13.0 (7.9, 18.1) | −10.3% | 0.105 |
healthcare-seeking behaviors for people in a need for outpatient care (%) |  |  |  | < 0.001 |
  Outpatient care | 39.1 | 37.2 | −4.8% |  |
  Self-medication | 27.1 | 14.1 | −48.0% |  |
  Continued treatment that took two weeks before | 23.3 | 47.2 | 102.6% |  |
  No treatment | 10.6 | 1.4 | − 86.8% |  |
The percentage of non-treatment or self-medication due to financial difficulties (%) | 24.4 | 13.6 | −44.3% | < 0.001 |
Percentage of outpatient healthcare provider (%) |  |  |  | < 0.001 |
  Village/community healthcare stations | 49.5 | 50.2 | 1.4% |  |
  Township/community healthcare centers | 24.2 | 22.4 | −7.4% |  |
  County hospitals | 17.3 | 16.9 | −2.3% |  |
  Municipal and higher-level hospitals | 8.9 | 10.5 | 18.0% |  |
Inpatient healthcare seeking behavior | ||||
Admissions within 1 year (mean%[mean ± SD]) | 6.8 (6.5–7.1) | 9.0 (8.6–9.4) | 32.4% | < 0.001 |
The percentage of people reported a need for admission but did not receive inpatient care (%) | 25.1 | 17.1 | − 31.9% | < 0.001 |
The percentage of non-hospitalized due to financial difficulties (%) | 70.3 | 43.2 | −38.5% | < 0.001 |
Percentage of inpatient healthcare provider (%) |  |  |  | < 0.001 |
  Township/community healthcare centers | 28.7 | 21.0 | −26.8% |  |
  County hospitals | 48.2 | 51.6 | 7.1% |  |
  Municipal hospitals | 11.9 | 17.9 | 50.4% |  |
  Provincial hospitals | 8.2 | 7.3 | −11.0% |  |
N | 177,501 | 273,687 | – |  |