Nursing performance management under the reform of Health Insurance payment in China

Introduction: China's Health Insurance payment reform has shifted to DRG/DIP in recent years. Nursing performance and management under the reform have been research hotspots. This article focuses on analyzing the research trends to help advance research in these fields. Methods: Using CiteSpace, the literature on nursing performance management under the Health Insurance payment reform was visualized and analyzed. Through analyses of annual publication volume, co-occurrence of authors, institutions, and keywords—as well as clustering and burst detection—trend charts of publication volume, collaborative co-occurrence maps, and keyword clustering visualizations were generated. Further exploration of research hotspots and trends followed. Results: The results indicated that research hotspots focused on public hospitals, nursing, and nursing pathways, with future research trends moving toward cost management. Discussion: There is still a need for enhanced research on nursing performance and nursing management under the medical payment reform. Conclusion: Although researchers have focused on keywords related to nursing performance management during the Health Insurance payment reform, more in-depth studies are still needed. What do we already know about this topic? Through CiteSpace's visual analysis, the study clearly identifies and delineates the core research hotspots and evolutionary trends in this field in recent years, such as the specific impact of DRG/DIP payment methods on nursing resource allocation, cost accounting, quality monitoring, and nurse performance appraisal. What is the main contribution to Evidence-Based Practice from this article? By identifying hotspots and trends, the research highlights which nursing management practices and performance improvement measures have received significant attention and (potential) validation of effectiveness in the current reform context, guiding clinical institutions in prioritizing the adoption and implementation of evidence-based nursing management models. What are this research’s implications towards health policy? The identified hotspots, such as linking nursing performance evaluation to payment and the role of nursing management in cost control and quality improvement, emphasize that future economic policies need to more precisely account for the unique value and economic contribution of nursing services, promoting their effective integration into overall healthcare value assessment and reimbursement systems.