Spatial illustration of health-care workforce accessibility index in China: How far has our 2009 health-care reform brought us?

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of China's health-care reform from 2009 to 2011 by examining China's annual health-care workforce statistics of 2008 and 2011. Design: The design of the study was a secondary data analysis. Main outcome measure: The main outcome measure used was the Primary Health Care Worker Accessibility Index (PHCWA). Results: The statistics illustrated the impact health-care reform had on the provision of primary health care in rural areas. The results showed that the health-care reform of 2009 generally improved access to the primary health-care workforce in all 28 areas (range of increase: 13.18-324.0%). However, an increasing disparity in regional health care based on the increase of the standard deviations of PHCWA (range of increase: 36.44-77.10%) may be an issue that policy-makers and analysts will have to face. Conclusions: Concerted policy efforts from both the provincial and central governments are needed to narrow the gaps. Regional development should not only focus on the economic aspect, but also account for the fact that the adequate provision of primary health care is part of the infrastructure that makes development possible and sustainable.