Attributes and levels of new medical technology in the DCE
| Attributes | Levels | Variables coding |
| Expected gains in health outcomes from the treatment | Not as expected; as expected | Binary |
| Likelihood of effective treatment | 30% to 90% | Continuous |
| Severity of target disease | Not severe; severe (but not fatal); fatal | Categorical |
| Incidence of serious adverse events | Often; occasionally; never or rarely | Categorical |
| Alternative technologies currently covered by insurance | Yes; no | Binary |
| Out-of-pocket cost per month (if not reimbursed) | CNY 300 to 3500 | Continuous |
We defined new medical technologies according to research objectives. New medical technologies referred to new technologies that entered into the market recently before our study but were not included in the reimbursement lists of social health insurance schemes, such as URRBMI and UEBMI.
The average exchange rate of US$ to CNY in 2018 was about 6.56. Therefore, CNY 300 was approximately US$46 and CNY 3500 was about US$533.
CNY, Chinese yuan; DCE, discrete choice experiment; UEBMI, Urban Employees Basic Medical Insurance; URRBMI, Urban-Rural Residents Basic Medical Insurance.