Medical expenditure of urban and rural respondents who reported hospitalization from 2003 to 2011 ().

<p>Abbreviation: HDC, hospitalization direct cost; HIC, hospitalization indirect cost; CS, consumer spending; RMB, Renminbi.</p><p>Medical expenditure of urban and rural respondents who reported hospitalization from 2003 to 2011 ().</p

Causes of hospitalization among urban and rural residents from 2003 to 2011, N (%).

<p>Causes of hospitalization among urban and rural residents from 2003 to 2011, N (%).</p

Additional file 1: of The effect of low insurance reimbursement on quality of care for non-small cell lung cancer in China: a comprehensive study covering diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes

Table S1. Eligible definition of selected indicators. (DOCX 15 kb

Additional file 2: of The effect of low insurance reimbursement on quality of care for non-small cell lung cancer in China: a comprehensive study covering diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes

Table S2. Medical record questionnaire for non-small cell lung cancer patients. (DOCX 22 kb

The quality of invasive breast cancer care for low reimbursement rate patients: A retrospective study

<div><p>Though evidence-based treatments have been recommended for breast cancer, underuse of the treatments was still observed. To certain extent, patients’ access to care, which can be enhanced by increasing the coverage of health insurance, could account for the current underuse in recommended care. This study aimed to examine the association between different proportions of reimbursement and quality of recommended breast cancer care, as well as length of hospital stay. In this retrospective study, 3669 patients diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 1 June, 2011 and 30 June, 2013 were recruited. Seven quality indicators from preoperative diagnosis procedures to adjuvant therapy and one composite indicator were selected as dependent variables. Logistic regression and generalized linear models were used to explore the association between quality of care and length of hospital stay with different reimbursement rates. Compared with UEBMI (urban employment basic medical insurance), which represented high level reimbursement rate, patients with lower rates of reimbursement were less likely to receive core biopsy, HER-2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor-2) testing, BCS (breast conserving surgery), SLNB (sentinel lymph nodes biopsy), adjuvant therapy and hormonal treatment. No significant difference in preoperative length of hospital stay was observed among the three insurance schemes, however URBMI (urban resident basic medical insurance) insured patients stayed longer for total length of hospital stay. Significant disparities in utilization of evidence-based breast cancer care among patients with different proportions of reimbursement were observed. Patients with lower rate of reimbursement were less likely to receive recommended care. Our findings could provide important support for further healthcare reform and quality improvement in breast cancer care.</p></div

Unadjusted adherence to quality indicators by insurance type (%).

<p>Unadjusted adherence to quality indicators by insurance type (%).</p

Diverse associations observed between pregnancy complications and RBC or plasma folates determined by an in-house developed LC-MS/MS method

As folates are essential for embryonic development and growth, it is necessary to accurately determine the levels of folates in plasma and red blood cells (RBCs) for clinical intervention. The aims of this study were to develop and validate a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for quantitation of folates in plasma and RBCs and to examine the association between plasma and RBC folate concentrations and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gestational hypertension (GH) and preeclampsia (PE). With the in-house developed LC-MS/MS, a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. The healthy pregnant women of first- (n = 147), second- (n = 84) and third-trimester (n = 141) or the women diagnosed with GDM (n = 84), GH (n = 58) or PE (n = 23), that were aged between 22 and 46 years old and registered at our institute, were subjected for measurement of folic acid (FA) and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF), followed by appropriate statistical association analysis. The assay for simultaneous quantitation of FA and 5-MTHF in plasma and RBCs was linear, stable, with imprecision less than 15% and recoveries within ±10%. The lower limits of quantification for FA and 5-MTHF measurement in whole blood were 0.57 and 1.09 nmol/L, and in plasma were 0.5 and 1 nmol/L, respectively. In the association analysis, the patients with lower RBC folate level ( The in-house developed LC-MS/MS method for folates and metabolites in plasma or RBC showed satisfactory analytical performance for clinical application. Further, the levels of folates and metabolites were diversely associated with GDM, GH and PE development.</p