Tianjin Launches Comprehensive Digital Health Community to Drive 'Healthy Tianjin' Initiative

Tianjin Takes a Key Step in Digital Health Development. On April 29, the construction of Tianjin’s Primary Care Digital Health Consortium was fully launched. Under the leadership of the Tianjin Municipal Health Commission, and led by Tianjin Weiyi Internet Hospital in collaboration with 267 primary healthcare institutions across the city, a tightly integrated primary healthcare consortium was established. Supported by a digital platform, the Primary Care Digital Health Consortium accelerates the development of an efficient, health-centered healthcare maintenance system throughout the city, pioneering the digital upgrade of primary healthcare at the provincial administrative level.

Wang Jianguo, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Municipal Health Commission; heads of the functional departments of the Municipal Health Commission and the health commissions of all districts; heads of community health service centers (township health centers) across the city; and relevant executives from Weiyi Group attended the launch ceremony.

Full Launch of the Construction of Tianjin’s Grassroots Digital Health Community

On January 6, the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government and WeDoctor Group signed the “Strategic Cooperation Agreement on Digital Health,” making Tianjin the first provincial-level administrative region in China to comprehensively launch digital health initiatives. The implementation of Tianjin’s Primary Care Digital Health Consortium has become a key measure in executing this strategy. The “Guidance Plan for the Construction of Primary Care Digital Health Consortia in Tianjin,” recently issued by the Tianjin Municipal Health Commission, emphasizes taking chronic disease health management as an entry point to further strengthen and optimize family doctor contracted services, enhance the capacity for primary-care pharmaceutical supply assurance, establish a health-centered performance management mechanism, strive to improve residents’ health management services, and promote the establishment of a new order featuring tiered diagnosis and treatment, appropriate care, and orderly medical consultations.

Digital applications centered on four major cloud platforms will be successively launched at 267 primary healthcare institutions across the city, serving as the core “engine” to empower grassroots healthcare. The “Cloud Management” platform will facilitate vertical integration and convergence of various medical services within the primary digital health consortiums; the “Cloud Services” platform will provide residents with multi-form, multi-level, and diversified integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine nursing and health management services; the “Cloud Pharmacy” platform will enhance the capacity for drug supply assurance at the primary care level; and the “Cloud Examination” platform will promote the establishment of a service model featuring “examinations at the primary level and diagnosis by higher-level institutions,” thereby achieving mutual transmission and recognition of examination and test results as well as sharing of high-quality medical resources.

In terms of service delivery, the Primary Care Digital Health Community has vigorously developed remote consultations, refined the two-way referral mechanism, standardized pharmaceutical care management services, and deepened family doctor contract services. By integrating a chronic disease health management system, pioneered by leading national expert teams, into all member institutions, it provides residents across the city with integrated medical and health management services encompassing “prevention, diagnosis, treatment, management, and wellness.” Meanwhile, the Primary Care Digital Health Community places significant emphasis on deepening institutional and mechanistic reforms.

With the support of digitalization, Tianjin has achieved a dual victory in both epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. Early this year, under the coordinated command of the Tianjin Municipal Health Commission, the Healthcare Security Administration, and the Cyberspace Administration of the Tianjin Municipal Committee, Weiyi Internet Hospital was rapidly launched and deployed for epidemic prevention efforts. It mobilized 56,000 doctors nationwide to provide online free clinic services to nearly 1.8 million patient visits, effectively alleviating the pressure on offline medical institutions. The “Tianjin Model” of Weiyi has been promoted nationwide through an official document issued by the National Health Commission.

“We must fully recognize the significant role of building a digital healthcare community in promoting equitable, inclusive, and convenient medical and health services. We must firmly consolidate the primary responsibility for constructing such communities, strengthen overall coordination, and form a synergistic force to advance their development,” stated Wang Jiancheng at the launch ceremony. He added that in the next phase, efforts will be made to further enhance the integration and operational efficiency of medical care, pharmaceuticals, and medical insurance (the “Three-Medical Linkage”) across the city. By innovating online-offline diagnosis and treatment models as well as family doctor contract services, Tianjin aims to create a convenient access point for medical care and health management for its 16 million residents. This initiative seeks to comprehensively improve primary healthcare services and citizens’ health outcomes, facilitate the transition from a disease-centered to a health-centered approach, and contribute Tianjin’s expertise and strength to the implementation of the Healthy China strategy.