Digital inclusive finance and basic medical and health supply capacity in China: a configurational analysis of 30 provinces

Objective This study identifies how digital inclusive finance, economic development, government support, and population aging combine to support high basic healthcare supply capacity across Chinese provinces, with particular attention to how configurational relationships vary across temporal specifications. Methods Using 180 province-year observations from 30 Chinese provinces during 2017–2022, we constructed a composite measure of basic healthcare supply capacity from medical and health institutions, primary healthcare institutions, health technical personnel, and hospital beds. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was combined with panel-data set-theoretic diagnostics to identify sufficient configurations and assess their consistency across years and provinces. Robustness analyses included alternative calibration anchors, outcome constructions, temporal specifications, lagged digital-finance conditions, and alternative digital-finance and fiscal measures. Results Two principal configurations were associated with high basic healthcare supply capacity. The first combined high digital-finance coverage breadth, lower usage depth, stronger government support, and higher population aging. The second combined high coverage breadth, usage depth, digitization, and population aging with relatively lower economic development and government support. The overall solution showed high consistency (0.934) and PRI (0.810). Coverage breadth appeared in both configurations, whereas usage depth occupied opposite set states, highlighting the importance of the internal structure of digital finance rather than its aggregate level alone. Under the common pooled intertemporal benchmark, panel set-theoretic diagnostics showed high between-year consistency across 2017–2022, while the empirical coverage of the two configurations expanded over time. However, the exact configurations changed under within-year recalibration, period-specific analyses, and lagged digital-finance specifications. The principal configurations were also reproduced under alternative outcome weighting, overlapping-indicator adjustments, and stricter pooled calibration. Conclusion High basic healthcare supply capacity can arise through multiple combinations of digital-finance, fiscal, economic, and demographic conditions. The principal configurational relationships exhibit high between-year consistency under the common pooled intertemporal benchmark, although their exact forms vary under alternative temporal specifications. The findings also show that different dimensions of digital finance play distinct roles within alternative pathways to strong healthcare resource supply.