公立医院新增床位数近五年首降，多地调控分院区数量

Core Insights - The core viewpoint of the articles highlights a significant shift in China's public hospital bed expansion policy, with a focus on controlling the growth of hospital beds and ensuring government health investment, reflecting a trend towards balancing healthcare resources and promoting public welfare [1][8]. Group 1: Hospital Bed Expansion Trends - In the past year, the expansion of public hospital beds has slowed, marking the first decline in new beds since 2020, with a total of 7.0 million new beds added in public hospitals, compared to 15.6 million in 2021 and 17.2 million in 2022 [2][4]. - The total number of hospital beds in China reached 10.298 million by the end of 2024, with hospitals accounting for 78.8% of this total, indicating a continued overall increase despite the slowdown in public hospital bed growth [2][4]. - The bed occupancy rate for public hospitals decreased to 84.8% from 86% the previous year, reflecting a broader trend of declining bed usage across all hospital levels [6][8]. Group 2: Policy and Regulatory Changes - The National Health Commission has emphasized a dual approach of "adding and subtracting" to stabilize the bed scale of public tertiary hospitals and strictly control the expansion of new hospital branches [8]. - Various regions, including Henan, Shanghai, and Jiangsu, have implemented measures to limit the number of branches for public hospitals to three and cap new hospital bed capacity at 1,500 beds [8][9]. - The focus on controlling hospital bed expansion is driven by concerns over excessive supply in the healthcare system, as evidenced by the high number of beds per capita in China compared to developed countries [4][6].