As a result of accompanying my son to the doctor, I have been in contact with pediatricians in China and the United States, and I have often paid attention to the differences in hospital and doctor services between the two countries. In the U.S., every family has to deal with a pediatrician from the time the baby is born, and there are federal and state regulations that require newborns to be examined by a pediatrician before they can be released from the hospital. Most families (who have the means) choose a family pediatrician in advance, but if they do not, the hospital or obstetrician will appoint one. The pediatrician: must be present at the designated time to examine the newborn, regardless of the time of day, and will only release the baby after he/she has signed. Of course, the fee is quite high, about$200. Newborns must have regular checkups and the required vaccinations before they reach their first birthday. During this time, any illness, big or small, must be referred to a specialized pediatrician, or a random one (less often), and any family with health insurance will have a family pediatrician of their choice. This is the doctor you need to see for any child health issues, colds, fevers and emergencies. Most doctors are very dedicated and treat their patients like clients and emperors, trying to meet the needs of their patients and families. In the U.S., appointments are generally made, and for non-emergencies, you must contact the nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant in advance. You must contact the nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant in advance for non-emergency cases, ask what you want to see or what your symptoms are, and then schedule your appointment according to the time available. Parents must be present in advance or on time in order to receive the “special appointment”, and of course the fee is not cheap. The best reward for the doctor is that through the referrals of patients and their families, more new patients will come to the doctor and become long-term loyal customers. With this kind of doctor-patient relationship, good doctors are very popular and have a lot of patients, business is booming, and doctors have to share with their partner hospitals for major diseases or hospitalizations and surgeries. So it is not uncommon to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The better doctors and clinics usually have more than one spacious and clean room, and use disposable examination tools and materials. Each doctor has a large amount of malpractice insurance. Doctors’ licenses are prominently displayed and their practice records are available online or at the state Department of Health. Illegal practice of medicine is easily prosecuted and can lead to jail time if caught. Pediatricians abroad are very familiar with and cautious about children’s medication. When it comes to colds and fevers, they generally do not easily prescribe antibiotics unless they are sure that there is bacterial infection and inflammation, and infusion prescriptions are even rarer. Since there are more preparations for children abroad, doctors are more selective in prescribing than in China, and they will explain in detail about medication, diet and care for the sick child, and take care of the possible results in a few days and the time for review and follow-up. If a child cannot be seen by a general practitioner, he or she will be referred to a specialist. Generally speaking, doctors are respected as a group of high income earners who help patients to solve their pain. The doctor-patient relationship is more integrated, because they know the patient well and have a good diagnosis, so they don’t have to do new tests or prescribe medications that are allergic to the patient. Patients and family members are still more satisfied, and the trust of both sides is stronger. Even if the fees are higher, they still feel that they are worth it. Of course, there are still tens of millions of people who are uninsured and have to go to public or established hospitals and doctors, so perhaps the service is worse. It is understood that pediatricians in China work hard, see a lot of patients every day, but do not earn much, and perhaps do not rank first in terms of revenue generation and importance compared to other popular departments. If large hospitals gradually diverted patients, good doctors set up their own practices, allowed higher fees, and introduced market mechanisms, each family would choose its own pediatrician and track their services year-round, would that change the situation? If the government required, and parents accepted, a full range of professional services from the time a newborn is discharged from the hospital, and every family had a regular pediatrician, our market for pediatric care would double several times. Doctors’ incomes would obviously increase, and services would improve, right? Good and permanent pediatricians are not only sought after and eagerly awaited by parents, but also remembered and appreciated by every child in the future. I hope that this kind of doctor-patient relationship will also prevail among pediatricians in China (despite the differences in material, treatment and policies of the country). I hope this is not just my imagination, and I hope that familiar or professional people will add and discuss.