Regional differences in the policy text of medical treatment combination based on structural topic model.

We collected 599 policies related to medical treatment combination issued by local governments from October 2010 to December 2022 to study the differences and characteristics of medical treatment combination policies in different regions of China. Descriptive statistics and the structural topic model were used to compare medical treatment combination policies in four major economic regions (West, Central, East, Northeast) of China from three dimensions: the number of policies issued, policy types and policy topics. The study shows that: the structure of Chinese local medical treatment combination policy system was not balanced and was characterized by an emphasis on implementation rules rather than standard specifications; the construction of hierarchical diagnosis and treatment service system and the management model of medical treatment combination are hot topics, while the topics such as supporting measures and disease prevention and treatment have not received widespread attention. The construction of medical treatment combination in each region shows diversified exploration. The local government needs to issue relevant policies according to the regional differences, so as to supplement the shortcomings of the policy and promote the improvement of the policy system of the regional medical treatment combination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]