How 5G Is Transforming Healthcare: Policy Support, Tech Giants' Moves, and Market Opportunities

The Emergence of Every Revolutionary Foundational Technology Triggers a Reallocation of Factor Resources and Restructures Related Industries.

As a technology that has garnered significant attention in recent years, 5G possesses such power and has already begun to demonstrate its strong disruptive capabilities in fields such as video, education, autonomous driving, and smart homes. This, of course, includes the healthcare sector.

Recently, at the "2020 China 5G + Industrial Internet Conference," a special session themed "5G + Healthcare" was held in Wuhan. Experts and scholars from government, industry, academia, and research institutions gathered in the city to conduct an in-depth discussion on the current state of "5G + Healthcare" and envision its future prospects.

As is well known, since the technology industry designated 2019 as the “Year of 5G,” 5G technology has set off a “whirlwind” across society and various industries. This fervor has become even more pronounced this year, with the official commercialization of 5G.

From a policy perspective, relevant documents have been frequently issued, and local governments are also seizing the opportunities.In March this year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) jointly issued the “Notice on Organizing and Implementing the 2020 New Infrastructure Construction Projects (in the Fields of Broadband Networks and 5G),” which proposed promoting the development of “5G-enabled smart healthcare systems for major public health emergencies.” In response, provinces and municipalities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Hunan have successively introduced relevant policies to support the deployment of 5G medical applications.

From a market perspective, in addition to the three traditional telecommunications carriers vying to establish their presence, giants in the new economy sector have also begun to deploy 5G services.In March this year, Alibaba DAMO Academy announced the establishment of the XG Lab, marking its formal entry into the 5G business sector. As a leader in 5G technology, Huawei collaborated with China Mobile to assist the Chinese PLA General Hospital in performing the nation’s first remote human surgery over a 5G network—the implantation of a deep brain stimulator for Parkinson’s disease.

Amidst the booming market, what exactly can 5G technology bring to healthcare? How should hospitals embrace 5G technology? What remaining challenges and pain points exist? How will future trends evolve? To address these questions, VCBeat has analyzed speeches from conference guests and interviewed numerous industry experts to offer some insights.

5G is the fifth-generation mobile communication technology, characterized by three key features: eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband), URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications), and mMTC (massive Machine-Type Communications). Simply put,5G data transmission rates are significantly higher than those of existing networks, with lower network latency.

Benefiting from faster data transmission speeds, 5G networks will not only serve mobile phones but also provide robust technical support for the Industrial Internet.In the healthcare industry, 5G technology will effectively empower a wide range of application scenarios, including telemedicine, medical imaging, ambulance-based emergency care, digital hospital services, and healthcare big data, thereby enhancing the medical experience for patients.

“The advancement of technologies such as 5G has provided significant impetus to the development of digital health,” stated Yang Shengli, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at the conference.Transforming and Enhancing Medicine Through Digital Innovation Is an Inevitable Trend.Moreover, in the course of combating the epidemic this year, internet healthcare—particularly telemedicine—has provided services such as online diagnosis and treatment, epidemic prevention consultations, medication guidance, remote delivery, and remote education and training. These efforts have significantly alleviated the pressure on offline physical medical institutions, yielding remarkable results and earning widespread recognition from all sectors.

To elaborate further,5G technology can break down temporal and spatial barriers, enabling the centralized online aggregation of medical resources.“During the early stages of the pandemic, in the construction process of Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospitals, we placed great emphasis on telemedicine and mobile healthcare supported by new 5G internet technologies. Empowered by 5G technology, the two hospitals overcame geographical limitations in the shortest possible time, achieving rapid online centralization of medical resources across China. Furthermore, this facilitated in-hospital mobile healthcare applications and enabled a paperless office environment,” said Ms. Zuo Xiuran, Director of the Information Center at Wuhan Central Hospital.

Second, it can make the emergency response process more efficient.By providing 5G signal coverage, medical personnel inside ambulances can communicate seamlessly in real time with hospital specialists, enabling the specialists to clearly observe the patient’s condition. Meanwhile, vital sign data such as electrocardiogram (ECG) readings and blood oxygen saturation levels are transmitted in real time to the emergency center, facilitating efficient and precise remote consultations. This significantly improves survival and recovery rates for emergency patients. Previously, effective remote consultations were difficult to achieve due to factors such as single-network reliance, signal instability, and low video clarity.

Third, it can drive the transformation of medical education methods.“The development of 5G technology has made it possible to apply mixed reality and other technologies to medical education and research.” According to Chen Jianguo, Vice President of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, as well as Secretary of the Party Committee and Dean of Tongji Medical College, the mixed reality platform integrates mixed reality technology with cloud computing and cloud storage, leveraging 5G communication for data transmission. This enables hospitals and healthcare professionals worldwide to engage in face-to-face communication and discussion of medical information via the internet in a real-time, holographic, and three-dimensional manner.

Fourth, it can provide a better experience for patients’ personal health management after hospital discharge.Leveraging 5G technology, health management terminals can be connected across various settings, including hospitals, communities, and homes, thereby integrating users’ health information data from multiple channels. Based on this data, physicians can utilize intelligent analytics, such as AI, to understand the health needs of patient populations, provide a valuable basis for coordinating medical and nursing services, and encourage greater patient participation. Taking chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as an example, a study in the United States showed that disease management strategies for COPD patients—such as enhanced education and 12 months of continuous follow-up—can effectively reduce hospital admissions and emergency department visit rates associated with COPD. Undoubtedly, the integration of 5G technology will make personal health management more efficient.

Of course, the changes brought by “5G + healthcare” extend beyond the four aspects mentioned above, butThe core logic is to enhance the utilization efficiency and accessibility of medical resources from the dimensions of space and time, even providing new solutions.As 5G technology becomes increasingly prevalent, the efficiency revolution spurred by this technological advancement will bring about profound changes to the healthcare ecosystem.

As with all emerging technologies, from a long-term perspective, 5G will become a critical foundational technology for the future healthcare industry. ButIn the short term, “5G+Healthcare” will inevitably face numerous challenges, which are issues that industry pioneers must take into account.Only by clearly identifying the obstacles can we avoid them as much as possible and find solutions.

First, it lies in the formulation of industry standards.“During practical implementation, we have observed industry participants discussing how to effectively utilize machine learning and neural networks, as well as how to properly establish knowledge bases and technical roadmaps. Each team presents a different technical roadmap, with varying working principles and technical models. Therefore, the industry requires standardized guidelines to provide direction and support,” stated Lu Qingjun, Director of the National Center for Telemedicine and Internet Medicine.

Therefore, accelerating the establishment of industry standards, addressing institutional and mechanistic barriers to the deep integration of 5G technology with healthcare, researching and constructing a wireless medical standard system, conducting studies on the 5G smart healthcare standard framework, and promoting the formulation of standards for 5G smart healthcare devices, networks, service applications, data interoperability, and information security have become key areas of focus for industry professionals.

Furthermore, there is the issue of information security.Due to the uneven level of informatization across medical institutions at various levels in China, and the rapid development of new 5G technologies and applications, data circulation among various healthcare applications has accelerated. In this process, certain risks to medical quality and data security may arise; therefore, it is necessary to further innovate regulatory approaches to ensure medical quality and data security.

“Policy guidance serves as the beacon and crosswalk for the development of our entire industry; with crosswalks in place, safety is assured,” said Lu Qingjun. He noted that the healthcare industry possesses unique characteristics compared to other sectors, and that medical quality and patient safety constitute an absolute bottom line that must be upheld.

Finally, there are the issues of risk and ethics.The use of 5G technology for remote surgery currently entails an extremely low tolerance for error. As a high-risk medical procedure, any complications arising during surgery raise significant issues of liability and ethics. In the event of accidents during remotely guided surgeries, controversies persist regarding the determination of liability. This presents a formidable challenge to industry participants and policymakers alike, requiring practical experience and time to refine and improve the framework.

The integration of emerging technologies and industries requires not only time and capital, but also the joint efforts of all stakeholders.

In addition to the high priority given by the national government to the innovative development and integrated application of next-generation information technologies, such as 5G industrial internet, and the repeated introduction of relevant policies,Stakeholders across the industry are also leveraging their respective advantageous resources and capabilities to continuously facilitate the deep integration of 5G with the healthcare sector.

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) serves as the primary supporting body for national 5G+Industrial Internet policies and a key driver of industry development., conducting in-depth research on technical architecture, system construction, and application models, thereby providing support for the development and improvement of the new digital health infrastructure system.

“With respect to industry platforms, our institute, together with the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, has provided support for the drafting of relevant national strategies and policies, as well as for related technology research and development, testing, and standard-setting,” said Yu Xiaohui, Vice President of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. “During the epidemic prevention and control period,”Guided by two ministries, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) has established a digital health resource supply matchmaking platform., integrating various service resources from Chinese enterprises in 5G smart healthcare, telemedicine, medical cloud computing, artificial intelligence, mobile health, and big data analytics, thereby contributing to the digital fight against the pandemic.”

Moreover, during the pandemic, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) also undertook two systems.1. Communication Big Data Itinerary Card, obtained through the base station location of the user's mobile phone, is a free inquiry service provided to mobile phone users across China. Mobile phone users can use this service to query information on all prefecture-level cities they have visited in the past 14 days.Second, the National Key Medical Supplies Guarantee and Dispatch Platform, thereby providing support to the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism through this platform.

“For the healthcare industry, how can different application technologies be integrated with our hospital scenarios? How can new technologies provide fresh support for intelligent medical devices, wearable equipment, and AI-assisted diagnosis? These are the topics that our industry needs to explore,” said Zhang Yuming, Head of the Healthcare Business Division at the Industrial Internet Innovation Center.It is crucial to strengthen the networked infrastructure of healthcare institutions through 5G technology.

During this process,As a platform for translating scientific research into practical applications, the Industrial Internet Innovation Center has also made significant efforts to accelerate the deep integration of 5G with the healthcare industry.First, promote the establishment of a standardized database and, within a unified network-and-cloud architecture, develop a standard mechanism that enables secure data sharing and joint utilization. Second, in exploring business models, facilitate the exchange between resource providers and resource users on a single platform.

This July,The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) announced the freeze of Release 16, marking the completion of the first evolutionary version of the 5G standard and achieving substantial progress. This standard will further promote the large-scale commercialization of 5G.

What Does the 3GPP Release 16 Standard Mean? To begin with, it is essential to understand Release 15 (R15), the first frozen standard for 5G, which primarily supports eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband) for consumer-oriented scenarios such as ultra-high-definition video and AR/VR. In contrast, Release 16 (R16) mainly focuses on supporting URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications), catering to industrial internet and other similar scenarios.

Simply put,The R16 standard signifies that 5G technology is shifting its application focus from consumer (2C) to business (2B).Not only that,R16 also signifies that the most fundamental and core 5G standards have been completed.

As 5G technology matures and enters large-scale commercialization, the smart healthcare industry is poised for rapid development. ButThere are still four key challenges that industry participants need to pay attention to.

First, from a technical perspective, smart healthcare as a whole is still in its early stages.For instance, although AI in healthcare has already covered areas such as assisted diagnosis, virtual assistants, drug R&D, and health management at the application level, there are still few products that have been truly implemented and align with hospital usage scenarios.

Second, the challenge of data acquisition.On one hand, although there is currently a massive volume of medical data, most of it is unstructured, making it difficult to realize its clinical value. On the other hand, medicine is a cutting-edge field where complex and rare conditions may arise at any time. Without support from evidence-based medicine and access to high-value medical resources, algorithms will struggle to achieve large-scale impact.

Third, there is a shortage of multidisciplinary talent.Amid the broader shortage of AI and big data talent, there is an even more acute scarcity of interdisciplinary professionals in medical AI. Statistics reveal that among 47 CTOs or chief scientists at medical AI startups, only seven had backgrounds in medicine-related fields, accounting for 14.9%.

Fourth, intensifying commercial competition necessitates that companies pursue differentiated strategies.With the implementation of 5G technology, an increasing number of smart healthcare companies will enter the market, leading to more intense competition. The Matthew effect within the industry will become further pronounced. How to integrate upstream and downstream supply chains, government resources, and market assets; forge a differentiated development path; and accelerate market expansion are significant challenges facing major enterprises.

Of course, challenges and opportunities coexist. With the advent of 5G, new healthcare models will inevitably emerge. Remote sharing and real-time interaction of high-quality medical resources will help address issues such as scarcity of medical resources, shortage of healthcare professionals, and uneven distribution of medical expertise. This is good news for everyone.