CHIMA Releases the 2018-2019 Annual Survey Report on Hospital Informatization in China

On September 10, 2019, the Health Information Management Committee of the Chinese Hospital Association (CHIMA) held a press conference to release the “Report on the Survey of Informatization in Chinese Hospitals (2018–2019).” Industry media outlets such as Health界, HIT180, China Digital Healthcare Network, and e-Healthcare arranged for their reporters to attend the event.

Wang Youcai, Chairman of CHIMA, introduced to the attending journalists the objectives, significance, and issues addressed by the Annual Survey on Hospital Informatization in China. To comprehensively understand the current status of hospital informatization development in China, identify existing problems, and forecast future trends, CHIMA has conducted an annual survey of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) since 2006. The survey covers both subjective and objective data regarding capital investment, human resources, infrastructure, standards and norms, as well as operations, maintenance, and management in hospital informatization.

Objective data primarily reflect the progress of information technology (IT) infrastructure development across hospitals, while subjective data encompass hospital Chief Information Officers’ (CIOs) perspectives on existing challenges in IT implementation, expectations for technological advancements, and prioritization of system construction. The compilation and analysis of these data yield reports that provide evidence-based insights for government agencies, healthcare institutions, and Health Information Technology (HIT) service providers. The influence of such survey-based analyses continues to grow, garnering widespread societal recognition.

The 2018–2019 Survey Report on Hospital Informatics in China comprises eight sections: basic information on participating hospitals and their IT departments; status of hospital informatics hardware infrastructure; barriers, challenges, and visions for informatics development; status of hospital business information systems; regional health informatics development; hospital IT planning, construction supervision, and technical outsourcing; operations, management, and information security assurance; and informatics investment. The report includes a total of 68 sub-reports.

A total of 1,909 valid responses were received this year, accounting for 5.97% of the total number of hospitals in China. The sample covered 31 administrative regions, excluding the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan Province. Stratified by the level of economic development across regions, samples from economically developed areas accounted for 36.20%, those from moderately developed areas accounted for 54.58%, and those from less developed areas accounted for 9.22%.

To better leverage the value of this survey report, CHIMA has made it publicly available, free of charge, to stakeholders in the healthcare informatics sector. This initiative aims to provide greater support for government macro-level decision-making, the design and management of information system construction in healthcare institutions, and healthcare information service providers.

Given the limited number of personnel involved in the report analysis and their lack of experience, this investigative report inevitably contains certain shortcomings. We sincerely welcome criticism and suggestions from industry peers and readers to facilitate continuous improvement in our future work.

Table of Contents for the 2018–2019 CHIMA CIO Survey Report

Preface

About the Sample

Report Type

Stratified Comparison

Copyright Notice

Reading Disclaimer

Contributing Author

Acknowledgements

1. Participate in the survey of the basic situation of hospitals and their information departments

1.1 Analysis of Basic Information on Participating Hospitals

1.1.1 Participation in the Investigation of the Distribution Characteristics of Hospital Administrative Regions

1.1.2 Hospitals Participating in the Survey

1.1.3 Participation in the Survey of Hospital Bed Capacity

1.1.4 Total Number of In-Service Hospital Staff Participating in the Survey

1.1.5 Participate in the survey of the total number of outpatient visits and discharges at the hospital in the previous year

1.1.6 Participate in the investigation of the hospital's total revenue for the previous year

1.2 Basic Information of the Head of the Information Technology Department

1.2.1 Professional Title Distribution of the Head of the Information Technology Department

1.2.2 Highest Educational Qualification and Corresponding Major of the Head of the Information Technology Department

1.3 Overview of the Information Department

1.3.1 Scope of Business for the Information Department

1.3.2 Vision of the IT Team for Operations and Maintenance

1.3.3 Staff Profile of the Information Department

2. Status of Hospital Information Technology Hardware Infrastructure

2.1 Statistics on Server Room Area

2.2 Network Construction Status

2.2.1 Number of Independent and Physically Isolated Networks

2.2.2 Statistics on Brands of Core Switches for Wired and Wireless Networks

2.2.3 Internet Access Methods

2.2.4 Internet Bandwidth

2.2.5 Application of Wireless Networks

2.2.6 Terminal Device Usage Status

2.3 Storage Conditions

2.3.1 Centralized Storage Capacity Status

2.3.2 Brand Overview of Storage Devices

2.3.3 Application of Virtualization Technology

2.3.4 Public Cloud Usage

2.4 Server Equipment Categories and Quantities

3 Obstacles, Issues, and Vision for Information Technology Development

3.1 Barriers to Informatics Development

3.2 Priority of Information Systems in Supporting Hospitals

3.3 Key Issues Hospitals Should Address Through the Application of Information Technology

3.4 Application System Construction Priority

3.5 Analysis of Issues in HIT Products and Factors Contributing to the Success of Information System Implementation

3.6 Considerations and Approach Analysis for Selecting Application Systems

4. Status of Hospital Information System Development

4.1 Participate in the investigation of hospital informationization certification or evaluation status

4.1.1 Status of Hospital Interconnectivity Standardization Maturity Assessment

4.1.2 Evaluation of Functional Application Levels of Electronic Medical Record Systems

4.2 Status of Data/Terminology Standards and Specifications

4.3 Analysis of Information System Integration Interfaces

4.4 Status of Hospital Patient Master Index Establishment

4.5 Patient Identification in Hospitals

4.6 Status of Business Informationization Construction

4.6.1 IT Infrastructure for Clinical Services

4.6.2 Status of Information Technology Construction in Auxiliary Healthcare Management

4.6.3 Status of Information Technology Construction for Hospital Operations Management

4.6.4 Status of Informatization Construction for Medical Collaboration

4.6.5 Status of Information System Development for Data Applications

4.7 Hospital Website Development Status

4.7.1 Hospital Website Construction Methods

4.7.2 Main Internet Services Provided by the Website

4.8 Status of Hospital Internet Medical Services

4.9 Usage of Medical Wristbands

4.10 Application Areas of Automated Dispensing Systems

5. Status of Regional Health Information Technology Development

5.1 Group Structure and Branch Hospital Status

5.2 Status of Participation in Regional Health Informatics

6. Hospital Information Planning, Construction Supervision, and Technical Outsourcing

6.1 Hospital Informationization Development Plan

6.2 Requirements for Supervision Services in IT Project Construction

6.3 Does the hospital have an IT project construction supervision company with which it maintains a long-term partnership?

6.4 IT Outsourcing Adoption

7. Operations and Maintenance Management and Information Security Assurance

7.1 IT Operations and Maintenance Management Approach

7.2 Cybersecurity Measures

7.3 Implementation of System Security Measures

7.3.1 Operating System Security Measures

7.3.2 Architectural Security Measures

7.3.3 Security Measures for Application Systems

7.4 Analysis of the Frequency and Causes of Unplanned Downtime in Core Systems

7.5 Implementation of Data Security Measures

7.6 Implementation of Classified Protection in Hospitals

7.7 Brand Analysis of Database Audit Software

8. Status of Investment in Information Technology Infrastructure

8.1 Statistics on Cumulative Investment in Information Technology Construction Over the Past Three Years

8.2 Hospital Information Technology Budget Overview

8.3 Proportion of Hospital Information Technology Investment Budget in the Annual Total Budget

8.4 Changes in Hospital IT Investment Budget Compared to Previous Periods

8.5 Overall Status of Hospital Investment in Information Technology Infrastructure

8.6 Capital Investment in Informatization Over the Next Two Years