Pingdingshan, Henan Partners with WeDoctor to Build Digital Chronic Disease Management System Focused on Strengthening Primary Care and Managing Chronic Conditions
Medical informatization is accelerating at the grassroots level, with “Yingcheng” continuously revitalizing its digital health ecosystem. On May 25, a training session on the promotion and application of electronic health records (EHRs) and electronic health cards for Henan Province residents was held in Pingdingshan City. As a typical representative of China’s “Internet + Healthcare” initiatives, Pingdingshan introduced to the entire province an innovative service model that prioritizes strengthening grassroots healthcare capabilities and leverages EHRs as informational support, thereby reshaping the primary care ecosystem.
“Eagle City” Pingdingshan, located in central Henan Province, currently administers two county-level cities, four counties, four districts, one national-level high-tech industrial development zone, and one urban-rural integration demonstration zone. It covers an area of 7,882 square kilometers and has a permanent resident population of 4.987 million. By the end of 2020, the city had a total of 3,692 medical and health institutions of various types, including 2,815 village clinics.
In response to the relative scarcity of high-quality medical resources and the large number of primary healthcare institutions, Pingdingshan took the lead in 2017 by partnering with WeDoctor, China’s largest digital healthcare service platform, to advance “Internet + Healthcare” initiatives, achieving remarkable results. Starting in 2019, the city began exploring the establishment of the “Pingdingshan Health Community,” further leveraging digital tools to address bottlenecks in public access to medical care.
According to Liu Ying, Deputy Mayor of the Pingdingshan Municipal People’s Government, the municipal party committee and government have remained committed to implementing the guidelines for health and wellness work in the new era. With a focus on strengthening primary healthcare, driven by reform and innovation, and leveraging modern technology, they are building a regional health community and delivering “Internet + Healthcare” services to provide the general public with equitable, accessible, systematic, and continuous health services encompassing prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.
Pingdingshan Health Consortium is, in essence, a tightly integrated medical consortium centered on health. By leveraging internet, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence technologies, Pingdingshan has integrated clinical and public health data to create comprehensive, authentic, dynamic, and usable resident health records. Furthermore, it has substantially enhanced primary care capabilities through the innovative “vehicle, kit, and station” model of mobile hospitals, delivering medical, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic services directly to village entrances and residents’ doorsteps, thereby truly realizing “consultations at the village level and care via the cloud.” Currently, the city has deployed 65 cloud-based mobile clinic vehicles and over 1,000 cloud-based mobile clinic kits. Medical and public health workstations cover the vast majority of primary healthcare institutions, and the “Internet Health Service Platform” has been launched to strengthen pre-, intra-, and post-care medical supervision.
It is understood that the upgradedCloud Mobile ClinicIn addition to assisting with the completion of7 major categories comprising 53 specific inspection and laboratory tests, along with an intelligent diagnosis and treatment system, a medical collaboration system, and cloud-based Hospital Information System (HIS), bring a comprehensive suite of services—including examinations, lab tests, diagnosis and treatment, prescription, and medication dispensing—right to residents’ doorsteps, with data automatically updated in their electronic health records; portableCloud Mobile Clinic KitFacilitates home visits by primary care physicians to conduct blood tests for residentsBlood Pressure, Blood Oxygen, and Other Tests, carrying out services such as family doctor contract signing, health record establishment, physical examinations, and follow-up visits, and are affectionately known as“Barefoot Doctors of the 21st Century”;Medical and Health WorkstationIntegratedFeaturing 10 major categories and 151 sub-functions, the system supports physicians in conducting remote consultations, remote ECG monitoring, family doctor contract management, online referrals, TCM syndrome differentiation and prescription, and online skills training. Data-driven, tag-based, and intelligent management significantly enhances physicians' service efficiency.
Launched on May 16, the Pingdingshan Internet Health Service Platform, built and operated by WeDoctor, integrates the three major systems of medical care, health insurance, and pharmaceuticals. By leveraging new technologies such as big data and facial recognition, the platform has connected with multiple designated medical and pharmaceutical institutions, including the First Municipal Hospital and the Second Municipal Hospital. It implements whole-process supervision through pre-event reminders, in-event warnings, and post-event audits, providing support for curbing “large prescription” issues—such as irrational medication, unnecessary examinations, and inappropriate treatments—that have drawn strong public complaint, and for precisely cracking down on insurance fraud. This initiative has strengthened medical regulation and standardized service delivery.
The rapid adoption and development of healthcare informatization and digitalization are reshaping the ecosystem of primary healthcare services, bridging the “last mile” gap in public access to medical care. Currently, the city has established a cloud-based system for primary healthcare institutions, a regional imaging cloud system, a regional population health information platform, and a convenient all-in-one card information system. Preliminary construction of big data infrastructure for health information has been completed, with 3.89 million electronic health records (EHRs) created for residents, achieving a coverage rate of 95.82%. A cumulative total of 23.0522 million person-times of public health services have been provided, including 3.5744 million follow-up visits and 1.9213 million health examinations, ensuring that each signed-up resident receives fulfilled and substantive services. Moreover, over 37,000 remote electrocardiogram (ECG) consultations and more than 68,000 remote specialist consultations have been conducted.
After more than four years of implementation, Pingdingshan has effectively alleviated issues such as the shortage of high-quality medical resources and weak rural health coverage by leveraging “Internet + Healthcare” as an entry point. This approach has been recognized by the State Council’s Leading Group for Deepening Medical Reform and the Henan Provincial Committee for Comprehensive Deepening Reforms, and has been hailed as the “Pingdingshan Model” of “Internet + Healthcare.” Notably, Jia County pioneered the pilot program and received supervisory incentives from the State Council in 2020 for its diligent implementation and remarkable results in carrying out key policy measures.
“Notice on Deepening the ‘Five Ones’ Service Action for ‘Internet + Medical Health’” points out that further focus should be placed on addressing the urgent, difficult, worrying, and anticipated issues faced by the public in seeking medical care, continuously promoting the in-depth development of convenient and beneficial “Internet + Medical Health” services. The “Notice on Issuing the Key Points for Deepening Reform in 2021” issued by the Office of Deepening Reform of the Henan Provincial Committee also clearly states that it is necessary to deepen the reform of the medical and health system, improve the tiered diagnosis and treatment system, accelerate the expansion and sinking of high-quality medical resources as well as their balanced regional distribution, enhance the quality of construction of close-knit county-level medical communities, and deepen the reform of diversified composite medical insurance payment methods.
Data show that in 2017, among the three major categories of causes of death in Pingdingshan City, chronic non-communicable diseases accounted for 89.28% of all deaths, with heart disease and cerebrovascular disease ranking first and second, respectively. Chronic diseases have complex etiologies, long courses, and high costs associated with complications. With the steady advancement of electronic health records (EHRs), health information such as medical visits, physical examinations, and preventive care for each resident is being linked and integrated into their health records, laying a solid foundation for achieving lifecycle health management for residents, particularly those with chronic conditions.
At the meeting, Liu Ying proposed continuously improving the internet-based health service platform, building a comprehensive medical security service system integrating “Internet + healthcare + medical insurance + pharmaceuticals,” and refining a chronic disease management model that combines online and offline services. It is reported that Pingdingshan will collaborate with WeDoctor to explore an integrated digital chronic disease management service featuring “in-hospital + out-of-hospital” and “online + offline” approaches. Centered on health and focusing on “strengthening primary care and managing chronic diseases,” this initiative aims to effectively improve the awareness, management, and control rates of chronic diseases, thereby delaying or even reducing the occurrence of complications.