National Health Commission Releases Trial Standards for Smart Hospital Management Grading, Defers Implementation
Just now, the National Health Commission released on its official website the “Notice of the General Office of the National Health Commission on Issuing the Graded Evaluation Standard System for Smart Hospital Management (Trial),” along with the “Graded Evaluation Standard System for Smart Hospital Management (Trial)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Trial Standards”). The purpose of the Trial Standards is to guide medical institutions in carrying out smart hospital construction in a scientific and standardized manner, thereby enhancing the precision and intelligence of hospital management.
Screenshot from the official website of the National Health Commission
The Trial Standards are accompanied by the specific Hospital Smart Management Grading Assessment Items and Specific Requirements for Hospital Smart Management Grading Assessment. Among these, the Specific Requirements provide detailed explanations of item requirements, job roles, business items, evaluation categories, main evaluation content, and grading criteria, offering strong operational feasibility. Therefore, although the Notice states that “relevant assessment standards will not be implemented for the time being,” this should in fact be interpreted as providing hospitals with a buffer period for consideration.
At the recently concluded Two Sessions, deputies and committee members put forward numerous motions, suggestions, and proposals centered on smart healthcare. In the 14th Five-Year Plan, the development of smart hospitals is regarded as a crucial component in achieving the goals of Healthy China, alleviating the public’s difficulties in accessing medical care, and promoting high-quality development of public hospitals. Therefore, official rating standards are expected to be released soon.
The full text of the Trial Standards is as follows:
Smart hospital management is an integral component of the “trinity” smart hospital initiative. To guide local authorities and hospitals in strengthening the top-level design of smart hospital development, fully leveraging smart management tools, and enhancing the precision and intelligence of hospital management, the Hierarchical Evaluation Standard System for Smart Hospital Management is hereby formulated.
I. Purpose of Establishing a Tiered Assessment Standards System
(1) Clarify the functions implemented at each level of smart hospital management to provide a reference for hospitals to strengthen their smart management initiatives.
(II) Guide localities and hospitals in assessing the current status of smart hospital management development, and establish a continuous improvement system for smart hospital management.
(3) Improve the top-level design of the “three-in-one” smart hospital construction to make it an effective tool for enhancing the modernization level of hospital management.
II. Evaluation Subjects
Hospitals that employ information technology and intelligent tools for management.
III. Assessment and Grading
Given the broad scope and extensive content of hospital management, this standard focuses solely on the core aspects of hospital management, evaluating them from the perspectives of smart management functions and outcomes. The evaluation results are classified into levels 0 to 5. The grading principles are as follows.
(1) Level 0: No Hospital Management Information System. Various information in the hospital management process is handled manually, without the use of an information system.
(II) Level 1: Initial application of information technology tools for hospital management. Information systems are used to process data related to hospital management, utilizing either general-purpose or specialized software; however, these systems lack data exchange and sharing capabilities.
(3) Level 2: Preliminary establishment of a Hospital Information System (HIS) with data sharing capabilities. An information processing system is established within administrative departments, enabling data to be shared and processed across various positions within the department via the network.
(4) Level 3: Achieve primary operational interoperability by leveraging the Hospital Management Information System (HMIS). Administrative departments can transmit data over networks and obtain required data from other departments through any method (such as interface integration or calling information system data). Data within a department’s information system is available for shared use by other departments, and the information system can perform data exchange based on standard dictionary repositories.
(5) Level 4: Achieve intermediate-level business integration by leveraging the Hospital Information System (HIS). Facilitate data exchange among key management systems—including hospital administration, clinical care, nursing, and patient services (such as accounting, billing, and physician order entry systems)—via data interfaces. Within management workflows, the information system shall implement verification and cross-referencing functions for at least one type of business data.
(6) Level 5: Preliminarily establish a hospital smart management information system to achieve advanced business coordination and management decision support functions. Each administrative department can utilize in-hospital systems for medical care, nursing, patient services, and operational management to complete tasks such as business processing, data verification, and process management, thereby enabling refined hospital management. Establish a hospital smart management database equipped with management decision support capabilities, including automatic generation of management indicators, integrated display of management information, and automated alerts for management tasks.