Evaluating Policy Design and Modeling Consistency of Health Service Industry Policies via PMC-Index Model: Good Consistency and Optimization Space.

IntroductionHealth and well-being constitute core components of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In 2013, China released the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Health Service Industry". Nevertheless, few studies have assessed the scientific rigor and policy modeling consistency of provincial health service policies. This study aims to evaluate such policies nationwide, with the policy triangle framework as theoretical basis and the PMC-index model as research method.MethodsThis study constructed an evaluation index system by mapping indicators from the PMC-index model and relevant literature to the policy triangle framework. It then adopted quantitative evaluation based on the PMC-index model to evaluate the scientific rigor and policy modeling consistency of health service industry policies.ResultsThis study quantitatively evaluated 22 provincial health service policies via the PMC-index model. The overall average PMC-index score was 6.35, indicating generally good policy consistency. Single-dimensional analysis demonstrated high performance in policy disclosure, policy content and policy instruments, but the lowest score in policy timeliness. Provincial policies presented obvious homogeneity, relying heavily on environmental and supply-side instruments while lacking demand-side instruments. Comparative analysis of typical policies further confirmed that flawed time planning, limited diversity of policy instruments selection and incomplete supporting mechanisms undermined the rigor of policy design.ConclusionsThis research provides valuable insights for evaluating and optimizing health service policies and offers a reference for evidence-based policy formulation in similar context, thereby advancing sustainable development practices.