2018 was a pivotal year for the significant expansion of the pilot program for public hospital salary reforms. According to the relevant plans laid out by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and three other ministries, this year, in addition to the previously designated pilot cities, at least one public hospital in each of the remaining cities will be selected to participate in the salary reform pilot program. Now, with less than five months remaining until the end of this round of pilots, public hospital salary reforms across various regions are entering the final sprint phase.

　　Recently, Guangdong Province issued the "Guangdong Province Action Plan for Deepening Comprehensive Reform of Public Hospitals," which proposes accelerating the pilot program for reforming the salary system in public hospitals and establishing a remuneration distribution mechanism that is tailored to the specific characteristics of the healthcare industry. Building on the previous pilot experience in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province has now added Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, and Foshan Cities as special pilot cities for this year’s public hospital salary system reform. The "Action Plan" emphasizes the need to refine the methods for determining overall salary levels and performance-based pay, fully empower public hospitals with autonomy in internal distribution, establish an incentive-oriented approach, enhance the public welfare nature of these institutions, boost the enthusiasm of medical personnel, and promote a target annual salary system for senior management personnel in public hospitals.

　　Other regions are also accelerating efforts in this area. For example, Jilin Province has proposed establishing a performance evaluation mechanism and internal distribution system that are oriented toward public welfare, encouraging greater rewards for greater effort and rewarding excellence with higher compensation, thereby enhancing the attractiveness of various positions. Liaoning Province has stated that it strictly prohibits setting revenue targets for medical personnel and stipulates that medical staff salaries must not be linked to income generated from drugs, consumables, or medical tests.

　　“Promoting salary reform in public hospitals is the ‘key link’ for deepening the reform of public hospitals and strengthening their public welfare orientation,” said Guan Bo, an associate researcher at the Institute of Social Development of the National Development and Reform Commission, in an interview with a reporter from Economic Reference News. By establishing a more rational income distribution system in public hospitals and building a salary allocation mechanism that aligns with the industry’s characteristics—such as the long training period required for medical personnel, high occupational risks, great technical complexity, and heavy professional responsibilities—this reform can not only reflect the economic value of human beings in medical services but also fundamentally curb the problems of overtreatment and profit-driven demand inducement in healthcare services.

　　Given the unique characteristics of the healthcare industry, reforming the compensation system has far-reaching implications and can determine the success or failure of healthcare reform. “In piloting compensation reforms in public hospitals, we should place great emphasis on the comprehensiveness, fairness, and scalability of the reforms,” said Guan Bo. Compensation reform should be closely coordinated with reforms in medical insurance payment methods, hospital personnel systems, and performance evaluation mechanisms. Moreover, it’s crucial to strike a balance among different job categories—such as doctors, nurses, technicians, pharmacists, and administrators—fully motivating key managers and high-level talents while also focusing on improving the remuneration of frontline operational specialists. At the same time, we should tilt resources toward departments and positions that are in short supply, such as pediatrics, so that the compensation reform can effectively optimize the distribution order and enhance the incentive effect for all staff members.