| الملخص: | IntroductionThis study explores the impact of the compact county medical service community policy on healthcare resource allocation and healthcare service utilization in rural Sichuan, China. The policy was implemented in stages in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023.MethodData were sourced from the Sichuan Health Statistics Yearbooks and Sichuan Statistical Yearbooks (2014–2023). We employed a staggered difference-in-differences propensity score matching analysis with two-way fixed effects, using data from 1,800 county-year observations in rural Sichuan over the period 2014–2023. After eliminating missing values, the treatment and control groups comprised 36 and 144 counties, respectively.ResultsThe implementation of compact county medical service community policy was associated with the successful optimization of healthcare resource allocation in village clinics, predominantly attributed to statistically significant increases in the number of healthcare workers and village clinics by an average of 0.163 (8.3%) and 0.089 (6.2%) per 1,000 rural population, respectively. Additionally, healthcare service utilization in village clinics substantially improved. Detailed analysis revealed a statistically significant average increase of 0.164 (6.8%) per 1,000 rural population in the number of healthcare consultations. The number of emergency consultations also increased by an average of 0.159 (6.9%) per 1,000 rural population.DiscussionOur findings highlight the beneficial impacts of implementing compact county medical service community policy on healthcare resource allocation and healthcare service utilization in rural areas, particularly in terms of village clinics. The findings have critical policy implications for enhancing healthcare resource allocation and healthcare service utilization in rural China.
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