The impact of an innovative payment model on the direct economic burden of infectious disease inpatients: evidence from a pilot City in central China

The DIP appears to contribute to reducing the direct economic burden for patients with infectious diseases. On the one hand, DIP seems to facilitate a reduction in inpatient medical expenditures, particularly by containing drug expenditures, which constitute a major component of spending for infectious disease patients. On the other hand, the decline in the proportion of OOPs is primarily concentrated in out-of-catalog items, suggesting that the DIP model may help limit doctors' tendencies to shift costs onto patients.