On April 1, 2010, Shenmu County revised the unified mean cost ceiling for hospitalization from the RMB 4,000 it put on all hospitals to a differentiated scale of RMB 4,600, RMB 4,000, RMB 3,600 and RMB 1,200, depending on the expertise level of a hospital. The restriction on the duration of hospitalization was also classified into 11, 8 and 5 days. Meanwhile, the cost ceiling for drugs was raised from within 30 percent to within 50 percent and in some cases 78 percent of total hospitalization fees.

The national standard for government subsidies of urban medical insurance and new-type rural cooperative medical care has increased in 2010 to RMB 120 per person per year as compared to the RMB 400 in Shenmu County. Many people, including officials from the Ministry of Health, believe that half or more of China's counties and cities should have no difficulty in following Shenmu County's lead.