China Telecom Partners with Neusoft to Accelerate Health Big Data Development in Northeast China

On July 15, Neusoft Group announced that the company signed an agreement with China Telecom Group in Beijing."Strategic Cooperation Agreement on Health and Medical Big Data and Related Internet Industries."

This collaboration will extend across the entire Northeast region, including Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces, to establish a regional hub for the aggregation and servicing of healthcare big data.Among them, the "Liaoning Provincial Medical Imaging Big Data Center" will serve as a key pilot project for this collaboration.

According to VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat), the collaboration between Neusoft Group and China Telecom stems from the preparatory signing ceremony for “China Health and Medical Big Data Co., Ltd.” held in Beijing this April.

On April 27, under the leadership of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China Telecom joined forces with Neusoft Group, Digital China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Inspur Group, and other enterprises and investment and financing platforms—totaling 13 entities—to establish “China Health and Medical Big Data Industry Development Co., Ltd.” and “China Health and Medical Big Data Co., Ltd.”

At that ceremony, Jin Xiaotao, Deputy Director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, stated,"China Health and Medical Big Data Co., Ltd." shall, after its establishment, adhere to the requirements of the "1+7+X" national pilot overall plan., clearly define work tasks and timelines, take the lead in negotiating and signing agreements with Xiamen and other cities in the first batch of pilot programs, promote the early commencement and effectiveness of national pilot projects, provide replicable and scalable experiences and models for China, and thereby accelerate the development of the health industry into a key pillar of the national economy.

This collaboration between China Telecom and Neusoft Group will also serve as one of the pilot projects under the “1+7+X” initiative.As mentioned in the cooperation, based on the construction and operational experience of the China Health and Medical Big Data Center (Northeast Region), both parties will further establish and strengthen their cooperation mechanism under the framework of “China Health and Medical Big Data Technology Development Group Corporation,” jointly exploring the nationwide market for medical imaging and health and medical big data services.

The main contents of the cooperation agreement include:

China Health and Medical Big Data Center (Northeast Region) Project, encompassing the construction of the physical infrastructure for the health and medical big data center, the formulation of standards related to data collection, open access, and data security, the development of foundational big data support platforms, the establishment of a dedicated medical big data network, and the exploration of demonstration applications for health and medical big data.

It will become an important component of the national pilot program’s overall “1+7+X” framework, serving as a pivotal link that radiates across the entire Northeast region and establishing itself as the hub for health and medical big data aggregation and services for Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces.

Both parties will collaborate in the following areas:

(1) Leverage the advantages of China Telecom’s “2+31+X” Tianyi Cloud Shenyang resource pool to build a data center that fully meets the operational requirements of the “Liaoning Provincial Health and Medical Big Data Center.”

At the current stage, both parties are jointly promoting the construction, official designation, and operation of the “Liaoning Provincial Medical Imaging Big Data Center.” When conditions are ripe, both parties will coordinate with the competent authorities of the National Health and Family Planning Commission to jointly advance, apply for the accreditation of, and promote the establishment of the “National Health and Medical Big Data Center (Northeast Region).”

(2) Both parties agree to invest in and rapidly initiate project construction and operations, with the goal of meeting the initial construction and operational needs of the Liaoning Provincial Medical Imaging Cloud Project under the China Health and Medical Big Data Center (Northeast Region). China Telecom shall provide platform construction, network circuits, and daily operation and maintenance services for the China Health and Medical Big Data Center (Northeast Region). In the event that China Telecom confirms inability to provide access, it shall support access via the health private network and dedicated lines from other telecommunications operators.

Relying on this data center, Neusoft Corporation is carrying out key initiatives such as building a foundational support platform for big data in medical imaging, developing demonstration applications, and promoting core services including remote interpretation of medical images.

In the healthcare sector, both parties are actively pursuing joint product innovation and business model innovation, leveraging internet, Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing technologies, building upon Neusoft Group’s mature products and applications, as well as China Telecom’s advantages in intelligent networking.

For relatively mature medical cloud application products, such as cloud imaging, small and medium-sized cloud hospitals (cloud HIS, cloud EMR, cloud LIS, cloud PACS), mobile healthcare apps for primary care, tiered diagnosis and treatment platforms, and regional health information platforms, both parties shall rapidly formulate a joint promotion plan to accelerate nationwide rollout across China.

The two parties will engage in comprehensive cooperation in cutting-edge internet technology fields, including cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile healthcare, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and network communications. They will also actively expand collaboration in areas of mutual interest, such as smart elderly care, smart homes, smart campuses, and the Internet of Vehicles (IoV).

Establish an effective cooperation mechanism, develop the "Blueprint for Joint Development of the Internet Industry," formulate the "Action Plan for Joint Development of the Internet Industry," have both groups’ headquarters centrally manage and govern shared project opportunities, jointly carry out product innovation and business model innovation in “Internet Plus Industries,” and establish a “Joint Innovation Research Institute for Industrial Internet” when conditions are favorable.

Building on a strong foundation of business collaboration, both parties are actively seeking deeper cooperation at the capital level. This includes exploring shared opportunities in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects, actively identifying and cultivating innovative companies in the internet industry, and exploring the establishment of a joint investment fund for the internet industry, thereby accelerating market expansion in the internet sector through capital-driven strategies.

VCBeat has learned that, as an infrastructure provider, China Telecom has established cloud computing centers in Inner Mongolia and Guizhou. Among them, the Inner Mongolia Cloud Computing Center is designed with 42 server buildings, boasting a capacity for over 100,000 racks and cloud hosting for 2 million servers, making it currently the largest cloud computing park in Asia. The platform’s performance can meet the 24/7 on-demand usage needs of millions of users.

The China Health and Medical Big Data Center (Northeast Region) project signifies that China Telecom will build its own cloud computing and big data center in the third region of the country.

It is also worth noting that Liaoning Province, where Neusoft Group is headquartered, has recently unveiled a plan that merits close attention.

The Liaoning Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission recently announced that by the end of 2017, all cities in Liaoning Province will launch family doctor contract services, with a standardized contract coverage rate of over 30% among the general population. By 2020, family doctor contract services in Liaoning will be expanded to cover the entire population, establishing long-term and stable contractual service relationships and basically achieving full coverage of the family doctor contract service system. The contract services include two components: basic and personalized service packages.

Among these, the basic contracted service package includes diagnosis and treatment using both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, rational drug use, medical consultation guidance, referral appointments, and health management services for key diseases and priority populations. The personalized contracted service package includes health assessments, rehabilitation guidance, home-based hospital bed services, home nursing care, and health management services for specific populations and special diseases.

It is thus evident that Neusoft Group’s decision to partner with China Telecom during this period was perfectly timed.