What is an orthopaedic “medical association”?

  Beijing Jishuitan Hospital Orthopaedic Medical Association was recently established in Beijing, which will create a “green channel” for the appointment of difficult orthopaedic patients in the district and county. This is the first discipline-based “medical association” formed in Beijing.  The “medical association” is a medical model to build hierarchical medical care, acute and slow treatment, two-way referral, which can partially alleviate the plight of major and minor diseases are crowded to tertiary hospitals. The “Orthopedic Medical Consortium” integrates orthopedic resources in Beijing, with seven sub-departments of orthopedics in Jishuitan Hospital as the leader and 16 other hospitals including Luhe Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing Daxing District People’s Hospital, Fuxing Hospital and our orthopedic department as members. Through the rules of cross-hospital reservation, two-way referral green channel and key specialty counterpart support, the first “Beijing Jishuitan Hospital-Orthopedic Medical Association” was established in Beijing with disciplines as the carrier.  After the establishment of the orthopedic medical consortium, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital initially reserved one orthopedic specialist number per day for member hospitals to ensure that members of the consortium can directly make appointments with the community health department of Jishuitan Hospital when they encounter difficult diseases in their first consultation. Under the medical consortium model, a green channel for referral of critically ill patients and a mutual recognition system for tests are established between Jishuitan Hospital and the member hospitals of the orthopedic medical consortium. While patients are rescued nearby and treated by the first hospital, orthopedic hospitals can also ask specialists from the hospital to consult and operate, avoiding delays in rescue time and realizing “technology is running, not patients are running”. Within the medical consortium, the large hospital will focus on dealing with difficult and complex diseases and acute and critical illnesses, while other member units will mainly treat common diseases and multiple illnesses. Test results are mutually recognized within the consortium, information on patient orders, tests and diagnoses are shared, and beds can be unified and deployed.  We can say that our orthopedic department becomes a member of the Medical Consortium, firstly, it is a great thing for our orthopedic department, which is conducive to further improving the level of our orthopedic department, attracting more patients and further expanding the influence of our hospital, and secondly, it is beneficial to the majority of patients, so that they can enjoy the expert services of Jishuitan Hospital conveniently at their doorstep. We believe that with the gradual operation of the medical association, the technical level of our orthopedic department, which is one of the key disciplines of Shijingshan District, will be further enhanced! Better serve the majority of patients in and outside the district.