Beijing patients to pay less for drugs, more for doctors

Patients in Beijing will spend less on drugs but pay more to see doctors, with the total expense expected to be about the same after the city government on Saturday stopped public hospitals from profiting from medicine sales.

The reform, announced last month, replaced a registration fee and a treatment fee with a higher medical service charge. Meanwhile, it scrapped the previous markup on drugs, which could be as high as 15 percent, in the old pricing system.

Beginning Saturday morning, 2,605 Beijing hospitals switched to the new system, as released by the Beijing health authority.