After more than a year of planning, AmCham China’s Healthcare Industry Group, led by Claire Ma, Vice President of AmCham China, traveled to the United States from August 12 to 22 for a week of healthcare cooperation and dialogue as part of the Public Health Leadership Workshop Series.
The trip was organized in collaboration with the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and the Yale School of Public Health. The study tour included officials from China’s provincial and municipal Healthcare Security Administrations, professors from Capital Medical University, Peking University, Central University of Finance and Economics, and Southern Medical University, as well as senior executives from leading American healthcare companies.
The goal of AmCham China’s Healthcare Industry Group is to deepen exchanges between the US and China in the healthcare sector, leveraging industry expertise to promote long-term cooperation in public health, policy research, talent training, and research and development. This collaboration supports both the Chinese and American governments in enhancing healthcare accessibility.
Shaping and refining China’s public health policies, as well as advancing its public health system, require extensive engagement with both domestic and international expertise and innovation. These efforts are essential for building a healthier China and establishing a world-class public health and preventive medicine discipline.
Monday, August 12
On the morning of August 12, the delegation arrived at Keck Medicine of USC, marking the official start of the 2024 AmCham China Public Health Leadership Workshop Series in the United States. Wu Di, Director of the International Medical Department at the University of Southern California, warmly welcomed the group and introduced the Keck School of Medicine.
The Keck School of Medicine at USC is one of only two university-based healthcare systems in Los Angeles, renowned for combining world-class academic research with advanced medical facilities and specialized clinical care. Over the course of the week, the delegation engaged in a comprehensive study at Keck Medical Center, gaining a multifaceted understanding of the U.S. medical system through lectures, hospital visits, and exchanges with clinicians. Wu Di delivered three lectures offering an in-depth look at the US healthcare system, covering insurance structures, medical insurance policies, and the tiered network of care.
The delegation also met with Rodney B. Hanners, President and CEO of Keck Medicine of USC, Shawn Sheffield, Chief Strategy Officer, and David Peng, Chief Clinical Officer, who shared insights on optimizing large medical systems in the US For instance, Shawn Sheffield discussed how Keck Medicine of USC manages partnerships, capital and risk planning, clinical department integration, and physician coordination when acquiring new medical institutions.
Led by Wu Di, the delegation toured Keck Hospital of USC, visiting the waiting room, consultation rooms, examination rooms, infusion rooms, and the intensive care unit (ICU).
Tuesday, August 13
On August 13, the delegation visited the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, where Arthur Toga, the Institute’s Director, introduced the group to its state-of-the-art facilities and extensive data resources. The Institute’s cutting-edge technology allows for the immediate upload of patient information from the USC medical system for academic research, enhancing both clinical diagnosis and brain-related research.
The delegation then visited the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital, one of only eight comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. Here, they learned about “Precision Medicine” in cancer research and treatment, including diagnostic imaging and intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT). The Norris Center integrates new radiological research into clinical diagnosis, ensuring precise treatment and advancing cancer research.
Wednesday, August 14
On the morning of August 14, the delegation visited the Arcadia Multi-specialty Clinic of USC. The clinic director introduced the medical environment and patient care procedures, highlighting the clinic’s mobile real-time translation services, which address the community’s diverse language needs.
The group then visited USC Arcadia Hospital, a community hospital within the Keck Medical System. Clifford Daniels, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy and Integration Officer of USC Arcadia Hospital, provided a detailed overview of the hospital’s history and development strategy. The delegation toured the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and patient care rooms, gaining insights into the community hospital’s patient-centered care approach.
On the afternoon of August 14, Professor Larry Wang, Director of Surgical Pathology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Renli Qiao, attending physician at the Pulmonary Clinic and the ICU at Keck Hospital of USC, were invited to attend the roundtable discussion with the delegation group. Both Professor Wang and Professor Qiao have extensive experience in teaching and practicing medicine in China and the United States. In recent years, they have visited China many times to participate in academic forums and give keynote speeches. The two professors discussed with the delegation group the US medical insurance system, physician training, and the current progress and model of cooperation between hospitals in China and the United States.
Thursday, August 15
On August 15, Professor Victor M. Peña, Administrator of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Los Angeles General Medical Center, introduced the delegation to the public hospital’s history – which can be traced back to 1878 when Los Angeles County opened a 100-bed hospital on Mission Road to provide medical care to the poor of Los Angeles – and shared insights on public hospital budget management. The hospital is also training base for the US Navy, and more than 900 doctors have completed their professional training there.
Friday, August 16
On August 16, Professors Phil Dalton and Eugene Lin from the Price School of Public Policy at USC delivered lectures to the delegation. Professor Dalton analyzed the trend of the US federal government’s financial spending on healthcare in recent years, and pointed out the future reform direction of US healthcare, including the accelerated integration among hospitals, insurance companies and doctors; compared with the existing Fee-for-Service model, which determines the hand fee by the amount of services provided, more attention will be paid to Value-based Care in the future, which is based on the amount and performance of services provided.
Professor Eugene focused on the implementation of the US Medicare Advantage program and its challenges. In this regard, the experts of the delegation group also shared in the discussion that China is currently promoting the development of health insurance and commercial insurance system, continuously improving the multi-level medical insurance system, and commercial insurance is fully involved in the major disease insurance and long-term insurance care, and “Human Insurance” and other universal supplemental insurance is rapidly emerging. The profit model, risk adjustment, and individual selection mechanism of the US Medicare Advantage program are important references for the development of China’s related social and commercial insurance business.
Paulo Rodrigues, the Senior Associate Vice Provost for Global Engagement Strategic and Global Initiatives of USC, met with the delegation group and had lunch in the school cafeteria. Paulo discussed the basic situation of medical education in China and the United States with Professors from Chinese medical universities and expressed the hope that in the future, the cooperation between universities will be further carried out around the training of medical talents. In addition, he also had an in-depth discussion with officials from China’s Healthcare Security Bureau on the effectiveness of the medical insurance system of the two countries.
Monday, August 19
On August 19, Dr. Dong Jijun, Chief Scientist at Salubris Bio, hosted the delegation at the company’s Innovation Center in Boston.
Dr. Dong, who has more than a decade of experience in discovery and development of biologics in cardiovascular, metabolic, and immuno-oncology fields, shared with the delegation group the status and challenges of innovative drug discovery and development in the United States. At the same time, the experts of the delegation group also shared their latest observations on China’s reforms in the review and approval of clinical trials of innovative drugs from the perspectives of policy formulation and regulation and discussed with Dr. Dong the similarities and differences between the US and China in the approval of innovative drugs and the direction of optimization of the relevant policies.
Later, the group visited Harvard University, where they experienced the strong academic atmosphere and vibrant campus life of the oldest American institution of higher learning.
In the afternoon, they also visited the headquarters office of Boston Scientific, an American medical device company. Maria Stewart, Vice President of Health Economics and Market Access, Atrial Fibrillation Solutions Division, Tim Nelson, Site Manager, Jian Zhou, Director of Health Economics and Market Access, and Dongbo Xu, Associate Director of Business Innovation and Solutions, led the delegation to tour the Innovation Center.
During the meeting, the Health Economics and Market Access team and the R&D team of Atrial Fibrillation Solutions Division shared with the delegation group the US Reimbursement Policies the technological innovation of the Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) system, and shared a case study of the Concomitant Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Groups (MS-DRG), which demonstrated how companies can promote the optimization of the US DRG healthcare payment rules to adapt to the updating and iterating of healthcare products and technologies, thus better benefiting the patients.
Tuesday, August 20
After arriving in New Haven on the evening of August 19, on August 20, the delegation met with Professor Xi Chen, Associate Professor at Yale School of Public Health and Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy and Economics at Yale University, who gave a presentation on comparative analysis of the current situation of DRG payment methods in the US and China. Based on the US federal Medicare report for 2024 and the “DRG/DIP2.0 Grouping Scheme” recently released by China’s National Healthcare Security Administration, Professor Chen, through a series of detailed statistics and case studies, revealed to the delegation group how DRG can be applied to controlling healthcare costs and improve healthcare efficiency and quality. After summarizing and analyzing the healthcare payment systems in different countries and regions, Professor Chen proposed the concept of “Value-based Care”, which advocates that the healthcare payment model should be gradually transformed from the traditional billing method focusing on the treatment of illnesses to an assessment and payment mechanism that pays more attention to the prevention of illnesses and the management of overall health.
Later, Professor Chen accompanied the delegation group to visit the Yale University campus. Yale University is home to many famous buildings, which not only demonstrate the architectural styles of different historical periods but also carry a wealth of academic and historical significance. The campus guided the group through the history behind these buildings, including the Harkness Tower, the Sterling Memorial Library, and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, known for its unique modernist design and marble façade.
Wednesday, August 21
At the end of the 10-day trip, the delegation participated in a seminar on “Change and Innovation in Public Health in China and the United States” at the Yale Club in New York City.
Claire Ma, Vice President of AmCham China, and Adam Zerda, Vice President of International Affairs of Becton, Dickinson and Company, gave opening remarks. They shared their best wishes for a successful seminar and emphasized the significance of the event in promoting public health cooperation between the United States and China. Ms. Ma noted that this was the first time the Chamber’s Healthcare Industry Group had traveled to the United States since the pandemic and that it had taken more than a year of planning and hard work to make the trip possible. During the two-week trip, the delegation group was able to gain an in-depth understanding of the future direction of US-China policy adjustments and cooperation in public health management through learning on university campuses, visits to companies and hospitals, and discussions with a number of doctors and experts, while Mr. Zerda emphasized that companies are key players in facilitating exchanges in public health between countries, and that foreign-funded companies in China will continue to play an important role in China-US healthcare cooperation. Mr. Zerda emphasized that companies are key players in promoting public health exchanges between countries and that foreign companies in China will continue to play an important role in China-US healthcare cooperation.
In the second part of the seminar, two officials from the Shaanxi Provincial Healthcare Security Administration and the Tianjin Municipal Healthcare Security Administration shared their experiences and reflections on local government VBP practices and healthcare security access. The Shaanxi official emphasized the need to enhance VBP quality and scale, standardize drug consumption management, and monitor pharmaceutical prices. The Tianjin official focused on establishing a scientific catalog of medical consumables for insurance purposes, utilizing market data to explore reasonable payment methods, and negotiating with enterprises on an equal basis.
Following these presentations, two roundtable discussions on “Policy Reform and Innovative Practices” were held. In the discussion on medical devices, Jiang Bin, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Management at Peking University, and Chen Weiqi, Research Associate at Peking University’s Center for Public Policy Research, analyzed the challenges of current policies and discussed balancing safety and innovation in policy development. Company representatives shared their experiences in promoting innovative solutions, highlighting the importance of collaboration between enterprises and government in policy innovation.
In the pharmaceutical roundtable, Nina Yin, Associate Professor at the Center for Human Capital and Labor Market Research at Central University of Finance and Economics, detailed the impact of demand-side policies on VBP implementation. Using extensive research data,
she discussed the positive effects of economic incentives on VBP, providing guidance for local governments on enhancing VBP policy efficiency. Milun Zhang, Head of Government Affairs and Regional Access at Amgen China, shared strategies pharmaceutical companies use to adapt to VBP and promote non-listed drugs within medical insurance catalogs at healthcare institutions.
At the conference’s conclusion, Ms. Roberta Lipson, Vice President of AmCham China and Founder of United Family Healthcare (UFH), delivered closing remarks. She thanked the speakers for their excellent presentations and expressed optimism about growing business confidence in China. Ms. Lipson emphasized that dialogues like this seminar are crucial for building trust between the US and China and expressed hope for more in-depth exchanges in the healthcare sector to address global public health challenges. She anticipated future exchanges that would deepen mutual understanding and build friendships, further promoting healthy relations between the two countries.
With the conclusion of three hours of productive discussions, the conference ended successfully. As the world’s largest economies, US-China cooperation in public health is vital not only to the well-being of their populations but also to global public health development. The two countries have a long history of fruitful collaboration in public health and medical care, learning from each other and progressing together in areas such as disease surveillance, health insurance payment, and medical innovation. However, challenges remain, including geopolitical tensions, rivalries, and reduced official communication. This forum’s in-depth exchanges can further enhance US-China understanding and cooperation in public health, promote innovative practices, and contribute to addressing global public health challenges.