How to Build Internet Hospitals and Smart Medical Insurance? Insights from Leading Experts
The “Capital Internet Hospital and Smart Health Insurance Monitoring Summit,” hosted by the Beijing Medical Association and supported by the Internet Research Institute of Beijing Normal University and WeDoctor, a digital healthcare service platform, was successfully held recently. More than 100 authoritative experts in healthcare reform and health insurance, hospital administrators, and industry specialists from across China gathered in Beijing. At this critical juncture where healthcare reform urgently needs to enter a new phase, they jointly explored how new business formats and models can stimulate and promote the integration of healthcare system reform with health insurance, thereby enhancing the efficiency of medical services and the utilization of health insurance funds.
In his address, President Feng Guosheng of the Beijing Medical Association affirmed the development of China’s internet healthcare industry in recent years. He noted that during the epidemic prevention and control efforts in 2020, internet healthcare played a significant role in providing medical consultations and addressing public health concerns. The Beijing Municipal Health Commission has attached great importance to the development of internet healthcare. Currently, Beijing has established an internet healthcare regulatory system. Several large tertiary Grade A hospitals, such as Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Tiantan Hospital, have obtained licenses for internet healthcare services and are actively delivering such services. The internet healthcare sector is experiencing robust growth.
The policy benefits of the development of internet healthcare are becoming increasingly evident. Data released by the National Health Commission in March this year shows that more than 1,100 internet hospitals have been established across China, making internet healthcare an important component of medical services. In addition to the active promotion by third-party digital health service platforms, many large public hospitals have also participated in this sector.
Shandong Provincial Third Hospital is among the first batch of provincial-level Grade A tertiary hospitals to explore the development of internet hospitals. Zhu Xingguo, Director of the Smart Healthcare Department, summarized his experience by stating that the construction of internet hospitals requires a management mindset and should be built with an open, innovative, shared, and collaborative approach. During the implementation process, Shandong Provincial Third Hospital partnered with WeDoctor to pioneer initiatives in five key areas: “support and assurance, standards and specifications, service offerings, operational mechanisms, and conduct oversight,” thereby leveraging the internet hospital to drive the institution’s leading and distinctive development. Currently, the hospital’s internet-based medical and nursing team, comprising both full-time and part-time staff, exceeds 600 members, having provided over 390,000 online consultation and diagnosis services.
To foster the better development of internet hospitals, it is essential to integrate their unique characteristics. Guang’anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences was the first traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospital in Beijing to obtain qualifications for online diagnosis and treatment. Zhang Hong, the Director of Information Technology at the hospital, introduced that during the pandemic, in addition to leveraging mini-programs and mobile apps to provide patients with convenient services such as online consultations, prescription renewals, and medication purchases, the hospital also enabled follow-up visits through online tongue coating examinations and offered TCM-specific services like “winter disease treated in summer.”
Li Yongzheng, Chief Architect at WeDoctorIt is believed that internet hospitals not only provide users with more convenient medical services but also empower healthcare institutions and physicians, fully unleashing valuable high-quality medical resources and extending the scope of services. In 2019, Beijing Weiyi General Practice Center became the first physical healthcare institution in Beijing to obtain qualifications for internet-based diagnosis and treatment. Currently, Weiyi operates 27 internet hospitals, 17 of which are accredited for medical insurance reimbursement, delivering high-quality online-offline integrated services to 220 million users across China.
Discussions on the development of internet hospitals cannot be separated from medical insurance. “Medical insurance and healthcare are two sides of the same coin. Medical insurance is a crucial means to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of the healthcare sector, as well as an effective lever for regulating and managing the allocation of medical service resources.”Ying Yazhen, Deputy Dean of the National Healthcare Security Administration Research InstituteFrankly.
As healthcare insurance expenditures have risen year after year, the State Council has successively issued documents since last year requiring strengthened intelligent monitoring and management of health insurance to safeguard the public’s “medical care funds” and “life-saving funds.” Zheng Jie, Director of the Beijing Healthcare Security Administration Center, stated, “The advancement of intelligent health insurance management requires collaborative efforts among health insurance administrative agencies, healthcare institutions, and third-party information technology companies—such as enterprises with big data processing capabilities and AI-based intelligent screening technologies—to jointly promote its improvement.”
Hao Guangsheng, Director of the Smart Medical Insurance Center at the Shandong Medical Insurance and Big Health Platform, introduced that the platform has integrated an intelligent medical insurance supervision system, enabling full-process oversight encompassing pre-event alerts, in-process controls, and post-event audits. By leveraging information technologies such as big data analytics, the system standardizes clinical practices and shifts from pure regulation to a combined approach of supervision, management, and service. This transition refocuses regulatory efforts from merely controlling medical costs to dual control over both medical expenses and healthcare quality.
Lu Qingjun, Director of the Office of the National Center for Telemedicine and Internet Medicine, called for greater attention to patient safety during internet-based diagnosis and treatment. He stated that only by ensuring patient safety can healthcare service quality and patient satisfaction be improved, thereby guaranteeing the positive development of internet healthcare.
As Ying Yazhen has pointed out, the reform tasks in the field of healthcare security are arduous, and innovation in technological tools serves as an accelerator for these reforms. From the broader perspective of comprehensive healthcare reform, the rapid development of new service models such as internet hospitals and smart medical insurance has seized upon new breakthroughs for deepening healthcare reform, with comprehensive digital upgrading emerging as a viable path forward.