BACKGROUND: Does the implementation of community healthcare integration policies affect fiscal expenditures as a key measure in addressing older healthcare demands and promoting healthy aging? METHODS: This study utilizes the implementation of community healthcare integration in Yantai, a prefecture-level city in China, as a natural experiment to analyze its fiscal expenditure consequences by using the synthetic control approach. RESULTS: Our empirical findings indicate that the program implementation markedly decreased fiscal expenditures in pilot cities. The decrease in expenditure is solely...
