A total of 13 categories of patients are now able to apply for home care-giving practices in Shenzhen, according to the city’s revised rules on family sickbed management.
The revised rules, which are for trial implementation starting from March 1 this year, were jointly released by the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission and the Shenzhen Municipal Health-care Security Bureau on Friday.
According to the rules, the scope of patients entitled to receiving home care-giving practices has been expanded to 13 categories, covering paralyzed seniors, terminal cancer patients in need of hospice care, pregnant women at risk of miscarriage who need bed rest, premature babies in need of continuous care, and so forth.
The threshold of proffering the care-giving services has also been lowered, as per the rules. All community health service centers and the hospitals that operate these centers are able to provide family sickbed services.
The services include providing patients with health management, monitoring, diagnosis and treatment, nursing, rehabilitation, pharmacy, consultation, appointment referral and hospice care. In principle, intravenous therapy is not offered to patients in their residence.
According to the new rules, the medical expenses of family sickbed services are covered by medical insurance. A patient should pay a 100-yuan (US$15.49) fee for the services covering a period of no more than 90 days and 77 yuan will be charged for each on-site service.
The other service items will be charged according to the corresponding charging standards of the service providers. The service period can be renewed after expiration.
Citizens can apply for the family sickbed services via “社康通” (shekangtong), the WeChat miniprogram operated by the city’s health commission.