This study aims to provide evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted chronic disease care in diverse settings across Asia. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted to assess the health, social, and economic consequences of the pandemic in India, China, Hong Kong, Korea, and Vietnam using standardized questionnaires. Overall, 5672 participants with chronic conditions were recruited from 5 countries. The mean age of the participants ranged from 55.9 to 69.3 years. A worsened economic status during the COVID-19 pandemic was reported by 19% to 59% of the study participants. Increased difficulty in accessing care was reported by 8% to 24% of participants, except Vietnam: 1.6%. The worsening of diabetes symptoms was reported by 5.6% to 14.6% of participants, except Vietnam: 3%. In multivariable regression analyses, increasing age, female participants, and worsened economic status were suggestive of increased difficulty in access to care, but these associations mostly did not reach statistical significance. In India and China, rural residence, worsened economic status and self-reported hypertension were statistically significantly associated with increased difficulty in access to care or worsening of diabetes symptoms. These findings suggest that the pandemic disproportionately affected marginalized and rural populations in Asia, negatively affecting population health beyond those directly suffering from COVID-19.

Objectives Using the person-environment (PE) fit theory, this study aims to explore factors affecting medical professionals’ job satisfaction, turnover intention, and professional efficacy, and to examine individual characters associated with PE fit. Design and methods This study used data from the sixth National Health Service Survey conducted in 2018, with a focus on job outcomes among medical professionals in Shanghai. The reliability and validity of the tools for measuring PE and job outcomes were calculated. A structural equation model was used to examine the relationship among person-job (PJ) fit and person-group (PG) fit, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and professional efficacy. Finally, a hierarchical regression model was used to analyze the association between demographic variables and the PJ and PG fit. Results PG fit was directly and positively associated with job satisfaction and professional efficacy. PJ fit had a direct and positive association with job satisfaction but had a direct and negative association with turnover intention. The indirect association of PJ fit with turnover intention was statistically significant. The results from the hierarchical regression analysis showed that younger physicians generally had a lower level of PJ fit and older physicians with higher education tended to have a lower level of PG fit. Conclusions Medical professionals with higher PJ or PG fit have higher job satisfaction, and those with higher PG fit have higher professional efficacy. The impact of PJ fit on turnover intention was mediated by job satisfaction. Healthcare managers should take actions to effectively promote medical professionals’ PJ and PG fit to improve their retention and efficiency.

Background In China, significant emphasis and investment in health care reform since 2009 has brought with it increasing scrutiny of its public hospitals. Calls for greater accountability in the quality of hospital care have led to increasing attention toward performance measurement and the development of hospital ratings. Despite such interest, there has yet to be a comprehensive analysis of what performance information is publicly available to understand the performance of hospitals in China. Objective This study aims to review the publicly available performance information about hospitals in China to assess options for ranking hospital performance. Methods A review was undertaken to identify performance measures based on publicly available data. Following several rounds of expert consultation regarding the utility of these measures, we clustered the available options into three key areas: research and development, academic reputation, and quality and safety. Following the identification and clustering of the available performance measures, we set out to translate these into a practical performance ranking system to assess variation in hospital performance. Results A new hospital ranking system termed the China Hospital Development Index (CHDI) is thus presented. Furthermore, we used CHDI for ranking well-known tertiary hospitals in China. Conclusions Despite notable limitations, our assessment of available measures and the development of a new ranking system break new ground in understanding hospital performance in China. In doing so, CHDI has the potential to contribute to wider discussions and debates about assessing hospital performance across global health care systems.