Trend analysis of medical expenses in Shenzhen after China's new health-care reforms

Since China initiated new health-care reforms in early 2009, a variety of measures have been implemented to slow the growth of medical expenses. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of controlling medical expenses. Based on inpatients' medical expenses at the largest tertiary hospital in Shenzhen, China, from 2009 to 2017, this study analyzed the changes in medical expenses and expense structures according to payment sources (insured or self-financed), stratifying the medical expenses according to the ICD-10 classification chapters of the principal diagnoses of the inpatients in two years (2009 and 2017) in order to control for confounding diseases. The results showed that mean inpatient expenses continued to rise from 2009 to 2017, and the expenses of the self-financed group began to exceed those of the insured group after 2011. Drug and consumable expenses were still the main factors that affected inpatient expenses, and consumable expenses remarkably increased, becoming the highest proportion of expenses. New health-care reforms were effective in controlling growing medical expenses for insured patients but did not make a significant difference in the expenses of self-financed patients. The excessive use of consumables has become a new driver of growing medical expenses.