Digital Exercise Rehabilitation Gains Traction in Grassroots Healthcare with Successful Pilot Programs and Nationwide Rollout

2024Year5Month10Day~12Day,“West China-The 41st Training Course on the Competencies of Community-Based General Practitioners”successfully convened, this is the first in China to“Digital Exercise Rehabilitation”A Training Session on Business Development: A Detailed Sharing of Implementation in Primary Healthcare Institutions.

The conference was hosted by the Sichuan International Medical Exchange Promotion Association, and co-organized by its Branch of General Practice and Community Health, the Fangcao Community Health Service Center in Chengdu High-Tech Zone, and the Tiaodeng Town Health Center in Dadukou District, Chongqing. The event attracted over one hundred medical professionals from across China to attend in person, with more than 3,000 online participants.

As the nation vigorously promotes the development of new quality productive forces, pioneering applications of technological innovation continue to emerge across various industries. These advancements aim to expand traditional growth pathways and align with the requirements for high-quality productivity. In primary healthcare settings, there is active exploration into applying new technologies to the rehabilitation treatment of patients with chronic diseases, thereby enhancing physicians’ treatment efficiency and reducing hospital admission and readmission rates.

As early as August 2023, the Fangcao Community Health Service Center in Chengdu High-Tech Zone pioneered the “Digital Exercise Rehabilitation” project, leveraging digital exercise prescriptions as the primary modality to provide rehabilitative treatment for patients with chronic diseases. By the end of April this year, more than 1,500 patients had participated in the program, ranging in age from just over 20 to above 70 years old.

“Digital exercise rehabilitation therapy can be better integrated into patients’ daily treatment routines, breaking through the limitations of traditional medical approaches and promoting the development of medical technical services in primary healthcare institutions.” Chengdu City“Director Li Shuangqing of the Fangcao Community Health Service Center in the High-Tech Zone stated during an interview.”

Before undergoing exercise-based rehabilitation, patients with chronic diseases first undergo assessments of cardiopulmonary endurance and physical fitness. Based on the assessment reports, physicians prescribe personalized digital exercise prescriptions. Patients simply log into the exercise prescription software, wear a basic smart device, and follow the guided exercise videos. This approach eliminates common uncertainties such as what exercises to perform, at what intensity, and with what frequency. Patients can focus solely on adhering to their prescribed exercise regimen, while the system also provides reminders to ensure timely compliance. Meanwhile, physicians can monitor patients’ physiological indicators in real time through the backend platform and adjust the exercise prescriptions accordingly, ensuring a safe and effective process throughout.

This model enables a single rehabilitation therapist to easily manage 100 or more patients simultaneously, significantly improving physicians’ work efficiency and effectively helping patients achieve therapeutic outcomes that exceed expectations. A 70-year-old patient with a 17-year history of hypertension has successfully reduced medication usage, while a patient in their twenties with pre-hyperlipidemia has seen physiological indicators return to normal.

As the country vigorously promotes the tiered diagnosis and treatment system, the CCCR model (Center-Guided Community-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation), which positions medical centers as the core for technical and strategic guidance and primary healthcare institutions as the main bodies for service delivery, has become a key model for cardiac rehabilitation and even chronic disease management.

Cardiac rehabilitation is divided into three phases: the inpatient rehabilitation phase, the outpatient rehabilitation phase, and the long-term community-based rehabilitation phase, which are conducted at secondary or higher-level medical institutions, primary healthcare facilities, and at home, respectively. The CCCR model requires clear functional positioning of hospitals at all levels, the establishment of a tiered management system for medical institutions, and the implementation of a two-way referral mechanism between upper- and lower-level facilities to alleviate pressure on medical resources while ensuring patients receive optimal therapeutic outcomes.

Digital Exercise Rehabilitation Plays a Pivotal Role in the CCCR Model. Professor Yang Shenglan from the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University stated at the conference, “Digital exercise rehabilitation provides an efficient and high-quality pathway for tiered diagnosis and treatment. Digital exercise prescriptions are traceable, low-cost, and highly accessible, offering end-to-end services for the treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention of chronic diseases.”

For hospitals, the “Digital Exercise Rehabilitation” program requires only a smartphone, heart rate monitoring devices, and limited space to support the entire rehabilitation process for patients with chronic diseases, resulting in a low barrier to implementation. For chronic disease patients requiring long-term rehabilitation, this service is covered by medical insurance; eligible expenses are reimbursed according to the outpatient pooling policies of each province. Taking one city as an example, the monthly cost of this program is approximately RMB 520, with the out-of-pocket expense reduced to just RMB 200 after outpatient pooling coverage, significantly lowering patients’ medical expenditures.

“Digital exercise prescriptions can improve patient adherence, reduce the overall financial burden of medical care for patients, and offer a low-cost, high-efficiency solution, while digital exercise rehabilitation represents a new frontier in chronic disease rehabilitation for hospitals,” said Director Bai Ping from the Fangcao Community Health Service Center in Chengdu High-Tech Zone, sharing successful project experiences.

At this training session, the Fangcao Community Health Service Center of Chengdu High-Tech Zone and the Tiaodeng Town Health Center of Dadukou District, Chongqing, also carried out joint party branch building activities. They plan to jointly explore and establish a new mechanism for exchange, cooperation, and coordinated development among primary healthcare institutions in the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin City Economic Circle, further promoting the application of new quality productive forces in primary healthcare by integrating “digital exercise rehabilitation” into the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases among residents. With the joint efforts of the Chengdu-Chongqing region, primary exercise rehabilitation therapy across China is expected to achieve comprehensive breakthroughs.

The “Digital Sports Rehabilitation” project is being implemented in hospitals across China. We are now seeking partners nationwide. Please scan the QR code to register and contact us.