There is no clear definition of the so-called "Sanming model", but it can be roughly summarized in two ways: on the supply side of medical services, administrative control has been greatly strengthened, while clarifying the respective spending responsibilities of the financial sector and the health insurance sector.
Specifically, the implementation of the annual salary system for the director and medical technicians, in which the director's salary is fully covered by the financial; at the same time, the development of five categories of 34 assessment indicators, the director of the comprehensive assessment, the results of the assessment of the director's annual salary is linked to the payment.
In which the financial responsibility for expenditure is only on the hardware investment of public hospitals (capital construction and purchase of large equipment, etc.) and the dean's salary. Sanming has also clamped down on the distribution of medicines and tightly controlled doctors' prescribing privileges.
On the demand side of medical services, Sanming has implemented citywide coordination of three types of medical insurance funds and reforms such as outpatient coordination and single-patient payment.
In June 2013, the three types of health insurance agencies, including urban workers' health insurance, residents' health insurance and new rural cooperative insurance, were integrated into a medical insurance fund management center. The center is subordinate to the municipal government and is temporarily managed by the finance department (mainly due to the fact that management responsibilities have not yet been consolidated at the national level). The city's integration and the financial sector management of medical insurance is the Sanming reform is quite concerned about the characteristics.