Digital Empowerment in Chronic Disease Management: Dezhou, Shandong Launches Its First Chronic Disease Management Service Center

The “Internet + Medical Insurance + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals” model further enhances high-quality and efficient service capabilities in Shandong Province. On May 9, Dezhou’s first Shandong Medical Insurance Big Health Chronic Disease Management Service Center was officially launched at the Ningjin County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, providing patients with one-stop services for chronic disease outpatient care and comprehensive digital chronic disease management. On the same day, the Shandong Medical Insurance Big Health Dezhou Chronic Disease Service Platform was simultaneously inaugurated.

It is understood that the Chronic Disease Management Service Center provides online services for patients with chronic diseases, including health consultations, appointment referrals, follow-up visits, health management, and extended prescriptions. It has achieved seamless integration of services such as medical insurance authentication, re-visit verification, online prescribing, and home delivery of medications. Notably, the Dezhou Chronic Disease Service Platform has also integrated Ningjin’s chronic disease management, as well as hypertension and diabetes“Two Diseases” Fully Entrusted Management (Excluding Patients with Mental Disorders). Benefiting from digital empowerment, the medical service capabilities of all counties, cities, and districts in Dezhou have significantly improved, providing solid support for the implementation of overall entrusted management of chronic diseases. This will effectively guide primary healthcare institutions to shift their focus from disease treatment to health assurance and disease prevention, thereby establishing a whole-process health management system for chronic diseases that integrates medical care and prevention.

On April 25 last year, China’s first provincial-level Internet-based medical insurance and healthcare platform—the Shandong Internet Medical Insurance and Healthcare Service Platform—was launched. Primarily operated by WeDoctor, the largest digital healthcare service platform in China, it pioneered an integrated service model combining “Internet + medical insurance + healthcare + pharmaceuticals.” The platform began its province-wide rollout across Shandong in June of last year. Dezhou was among the first batch of prefecture-level cities to implement the Shandong Medical Insurance and Healthcare Platform, further innovating services in areas such as smart medical insurance, digital healthcare, chronic disease management, pharmaceutical care centers, and poverty alleviation through medical insurance, thereby exploring the “Dezhou Model.”

Ningjin County is a pilot county for the county-level “Internet+ Outpatient Chronic Disease” initiative under the Dezhou Medical Insurance Big Health Platform. On April 9 this year, the first Chronic Disease Management Service Center was completed at the Ningjin County Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. This dedicated chronic disease zone integrates functional areas such as chronic disease consultation rooms, pharmacies, settlement windows, management areas, and health insurance policy education sections. It enables digital chronic disease management through an “online + offline” and “in-hospital + out-of-hospital” model, providing patients with an end-to-end service covering diagnosis and treatment, medication procurement, and delivery.

To meet patients’ diverse medication procurement needs, the Chronic Disease Service Center offers three methods for obtaining prescriptions: (1) on-site pickup at the Chronic Disease Service Center; (2) designated pickup points at selected pharmacies, where exclusive counters for chronic disease medications have been established; and (3) home delivery via express courier, following online consultation with physicians through a mobile platform, e-prescribing, online payment, and medical insurance reimbursement.

In January this year, the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Shandong Provincial People’s Government issued the “Implementation Opinions on Implementing the ‘Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of the Medical Security System,’” incorporating the development of the Shandong Internet Medical Insurance and Health Big Data Service Platform into the 14th Five-Year Plan, as well as into initiatives for converting old growth drivers to new ones and promoting internet-based innovation and development. The “Opinions” call for accelerating the construction of municipal-level platforms, promoting the opening of resources, and expediting digital empowerment.

As a municipal pilot for Shandong Province’s new-type smart cities, Dezhou has made substantial investments in digital infrastructure, laying a solid foundation for the development of its digital health sector. The city has accelerated the creation of a medical insurance and general health platform, establishing an integrated service system encompassing “Internet + Medical Insurance + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals.” A submodule of the Dezhou Medical Insurance and General Health Platform—the Big Data Platform for Health Poverty Alleviation—went live last year, achieving full coverage of the impoverished population with over 100,000 registered individuals.

Leveraging the Shandong Provincial Internet Medical Insurance and Health Service Platform, medical health services are delivered directly to patients’ doorsteps—particularly those in grassroots and remote rural areas—through mobile medical insurance health service vehicles that provide on-site medical consultations, medication dispensing, and diagnostic tests. To address the difficulties elderly patients face in using smartphones and making online payments, the platform has established a dedicated manual customer service hotline (95169000). After completing their initial registration, patients can call this hotline to access services including follow-up consultations, medication purchases, and real-time online settlement through both the pooled medical insurance fund and individual accounts.

Driven by medical insurance payments, the innovative model of “Internet + Medical Insurance + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals” has effectively promoted the integrated online-offline development of medical insurance, healthcare services, and pharmaceuticals. The original service pain points and barriers are gradually being resolved through diversified innovative services. In the near future, as chronic disease management service centers are fully implemented across other counties, districts, and cities in parallel, and with the deepened innovation of smart medical insurance and digital healthcare services, the 5.75 million residents of Dezhou will tangibly enjoy greater health benefits.