{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,30]],"date-time":"2026-10-30T17:22:34Z","timestamp":1793380954065,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]],"date-time":"2026-05-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779062400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study aimed to construct a reproducible sample of judicially visible healthcare corruption in China, identify its typologies, risk nodes, actor structures, and elucidate the institutional mechanisms underlying representative cases.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used. Criminal judgments with dates from 1 September 2019 to 31 December 2025 were retrieved from China Judgments Online in January 2026 and screened, yielding 573 judgments involving 787 defendants. Phase 1 used structured coding for descriptive analysis, while phase 2 used embedded multiple-case analysis of purposively selected, information-rich cases to explain key institutional mechanisms.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Cases clustered into three main categories, namely pharmaceutical\/clinical commercial bribery (267, 46.60%), embezzlement of in-hospital funds (137, 23.91%), and medical insurance fund fraud (99, 17.28%). Risk points concentrated on procurement (335 cases), medical insurance auditing\/payment (136 cases), and in-hospital finance\/asset management (122 cases). Among defendants sentenced to imprisonment (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f710), the median principal penalty was 36\u202fmonths, probation was 42.90%, fines was 91.70%, and recovery\/disgorgement\/forfeiture was 84.81%. Cross-case analysis revealed that corruption hinged on the coupling of gatekeeping authority, supplier inducement, professional discretion, and control over payment or accounting interfaces.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Publicly available criminal judgments provide a reproducible risk map of judicially visible healthcare corruption in China. Findings support node-oriented governance prioritizing procurement transparency, payment-side auditing, and high-risk internal posts. These data should be interpreted as legally filtered governance evidence rather than as direct estimates of underlying corruption incidence.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1818452","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]],"date-time":"2026-05-18T05:43:18Z","timestamp":1779082998000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Reforming the white coat economy: judicial evidence and institutional implications from China\u2019s healthcare anti-corruption campaign"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Zhiling","family":"Shen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office, Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College","place":["Chongqing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiao","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Marxism, Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College","place":["Chongqing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiao","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Discipline Inspection Office, Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital","place":["Chongqing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiyu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology","place":["Chongqing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Discipline Inspection and Supervision stationed at Chongqing Municipal Health Commission","place":["Chongqing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"83","DOI":"10.1093\/heapol\/czm048","article-title":"Review of corruption in the health sector: theory, methods and interventions","volume":"23","author":"Vian","year":"2008","journal-title":"Health Policy Plan"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.15171\/ijhpm.2018.123","article-title":"We need to talk about corruption in health systems","volume":"8","author":"Hutchinson","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int J Health Policy Manag"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"g4184","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.g4184","article-title":"Corruption: medicine\u2019s dirty open secret","volume":"348","author":"Jain","year":"2014","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"634","DOI":"10.2471\/BLT.18.209502","article-title":"The sustainable development goals as a framework to combat health-sector corruption","volume":"96","author":"Mackey","year":"2018","journal-title":"Bull World Health Organ"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"496","DOI":"10.1093\/heapol\/czad015","article-title":"Understanding medical corruption in China: a mixed-methods study","volume":"38","author":"Fu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Health Policy Plan"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"46","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2013.08.033","article-title":"Does corruption undermine trust in health care? 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