National Health Commission's Statistics and Information Center Partners with Tencent to Advance Innovative Electronic Health Card Applications on WeChat Platform

Recently, the Statistical Information Center of the National Health Commission entered into a strategic partnership with Tencent on innovative applications of the Electronic Health Card (EHC). In accordance with the national standards and specifications for EHCs, and leveraging Tencent’s extensive technical expertise and robust user reach, both parties will utilize the WeChat platform as an innovative channel for issuing and applying EHCs. They aim to promote the widespread adoption of EHCs across China, thereby facilitating the implementation of “Internet + Healthcare” initiatives that provide convenient and beneficial services to the public.

Under this collaboration, Tencent will work with the Statistical Information Center of the National Health Commission and local authorities to pilot the application of electronic health cards, facilitating the innovative transition of resident health cards from “single offline physical entities” to an “integrated online-offline” model. Together, they will establish a “virtual-physical combined” service network for resident health cards, enabling integrated online-offline identity authentication services, optimizing medical service workflows, ensuring the security of online applications, reducing card issuance and usage costs, and accelerating the widespread adoption of electronic health cards across China.

To promote the widespread adoption and application of electronic health cards, the General Office of the National Health Commission issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Promotion and Application of Electronic Health Cards” on December 13, 2018, emphasizing the need to enhance awareness of the importance of popularizing electronic health cards. The electronic health card is an online extension and innovative service model of the resident health card under the new “Internet+” landscape. It serves as a critical foundational platform for mutual recognition and sharing of information among various medical and health institutions, a key tool for enabling urban and rural residents to implement self-health management, and an important infrastructure component of China’s national health security project. Promoting the application of electronic health cards helps resolve the bottleneck issue of “multiple hospitals issuing incompatible cards,” facilitates real-name-based medical consultations, advances convenient and beneficial “Internet+ Medical Health” services, and promotes the aggregation, integration, open access, and sharing of health and medical big data.

Figure: National Health Commission Statistical Information Center and Tencent Sign Strategic Cooperation Agreement on Innovative Applications of Electronic Health Cards

Tencent Vice President Chen Guangyu stated that Tencent will collaborate with the Statistical Information Center of the National Health Commission and local authorities to pilot the application of electronic health cards. Leveraging its technical capabilities and platform advantages accumulated in the medical and healthcare sector, Tencent will securely and efficiently upgrade various physical visitation cards issued and used via WeChat into the “Electronic Health Card Management System,” while ensuring a high-quality user experience. This initiative aims to establish a “Master Patient Index” for residents and generate electronic health cards based on the Master Index ID, thereby achieving a smooth transition from traditional visitation cards to electronic health cards.

Wang Shaojun, Vice President of Tencent Healthcare, introduced that the electronic health card solution based on the WeChat platform features rapid card issuance, lightweight card creation, and versatile card usage. It encompasses eight core functions, including rapid card issuance, real-name identity verification, batch activation, online review, and a unified card wallet. This solution facilitates the rapid deployment and implementation of electronic health card systems by provincial and municipal health administrative departments, enables healthcare institutions to integrate with the electronic health card system through lightweight infrastructure upgrades, and helps patients access high-quality medical services and comprehensive health management experiences.

Furthermore, by leveraging the cross-domain master patient index and authorized security mechanisms of the electronic health card, it is possible to effectively aggregate and form comprehensive electronic health records covering residents’ entire life cycles. This facilitates the integration of data resources across departments, institutions, and regions, enabling information sharing and service coordination among healthcare providers, thereby delivering broader, more convenient, and more patient-centered health services to residents.

Under the guidance of the Statistical Information Center of the National Health Commission, Tencent’s Medical and Healthcare team has successively launched pilot collaborations on electronic health card development with provinces and cities including Qinghai, Jilin, and Xiamen. In the future, the WeChat-based electronic health card will serve as a “digital key” in residents’ hands, providing full-cycle, comprehensive medical and healthcare services, and enabling more convenient, efficient, and secure connections between residents, physicians, healthcare service providers, and administrative authorities.