Recent Developments and Service Offerings of Domestic Hospital-Based Telemedicine in China

Telemedicine services provided by medical institutions in China are broadly categorized into two types: business-to-business (B2B) services conducted between hospitals, and business-to-consumer (B2C) services delivered directly from hospitals to patients. This classification is explicitly outlined in the “Opinions on Promoting Telemedicine Services in Medical Institutions,” issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission in August 2014. The document specifies that telemedicine shall be divided into two categories based on the implementing entities: first, telemedicine services provided by one medical institution to patients of another medical institution through communication, computer, and network technologies, constituting institution-to-institution telemedicine; second, telemedicine services delivered directly to patients by medical institutions utilizing information technology.

In fact, the first category of B2B telemedicine services, primarily involving renowned or highly advanced Grade A tertiary hospitals providing targeted assistance to county-level or prefecture-level hospitals with scarce medical resources—i.e., predominantly in a “top-down” manner—has existed since the 1990s. For instance, the Chinese PLA General Hospital established its Telemedicine Center in 1997, and China-Japan Friendship Hospital set up its Telemedicine Center in 1998.

Category 2C remote medical services remain rare in China. The first breakthrough was made by the Second People’s Hospital of Guangdong Province, which officially launched what was touted as the nation’s first “online hospital” in October 2014. It is important to note that “online hospital” is merely a figurative term; under China’s current classification system for medical institutions, there is no such category as “online hospital,” nor are there any approval procedures or standards specifically for “online hospitals.”

Since then, Hunan Provincial Second People’s Hospital also officially launched its “Online Hospital” in October of this year. To date, only these two hospitals in China provide Category II telemedicine services directly to consumers (2C).

In the B2B Category I telemedicine services, the four leading medical institutions are the Chinese PLA General Hospital, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking University People’s Hospital, and China-Japan Friendship Hospital. This is because in September 2014, these four hospitals were among the first to be designated as pilot hospitals for special telemedicine policy trials by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC).

Telemedicine services at these pilot hospitals continue to refer to medical service activities conducted between healthcare institutions via internet technologies, including remote interactive guidance for examinations, assistance in diagnosis, and treatment supervision.

In February 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Health and Family Planning Commission jointly decided to approve pilot programs for telemedicine policies in five provinces and autonomous regions. Specifically, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Guizhou Province, and Tibet Autonomous Region were authorized to collaborate with the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital; Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region with Peking Union Medical College Hospital; and Yunnan Province with China-Japan Friendship Hospital.

VCBeat has compiled the progress of telemedicine services at relevant hospitals, as detailed below:

Guangdong Provincial Second People's Hospital

Guangdong Province issued the "Guangdong Province 'Internet+' Action Plan (2015–2020)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"). The Action Plan outlines 13 "Internet+" initiatives. Among them, under the category of "Internet+ Public Benefit Services," it sets forth the targets of "having 10 pilot online hospitals by the end of 2017" and "having 20 pilot online hospitals by the end of 2020."
As the first hospital in China to receive approval for an online hospital, it was the pioneer in providing telemedicine services to patients. Its model involves collaboration with over 20 chain pharmacy networks, utilizing their outlets as terminals for the “online hospital” to deliver remote medical services. The plan is to establish 1,000 terminals within the province and expand to 10,000 by the end of 2015.
The departments offered include General Practice, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Gastroenterology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Orthopedics, and Rheumatology, primarily focusing on common and chronic diseases. Patients can communicate online with physicians at the pharmacy, upload photos to the system, and have physiological data collected via devices and uploaded. Prescriptions are printed remotely, and patients can purchase medications directly at the pharmacy using these prescriptions bearing the physician’s signature.
However, in actual operation, it has been found that remote consultations provided by online hospitals are limited due to constraints such as diagnostic and treatment hardware, often covering only common and chronic diseases. Therefore, it has been suggested that it is more reasonable to establish online hospitals within community health service centers, where more professional testing equipment and personnel are available.

The Second People's Hospital of Hunan Province

As Hunan Province’s first internet hospital backed by a Grade 3A hospital, it officially launched this October. According to publicly available news reports, the internet hospital currently offers clinics in psychiatry, psychology, and general practice. Medical experts with senior attending physician qualifications or above, including associate chief physicians and chief physicians, take turns providing consultations. The internet hospital’s diagnosis and treatment service platform primarily serves the public through four channels: home users, retail pharmacies, medical consortium member institutions, and community health service centers.
Online medical consultations are currently offered as a free service, with nominal consultation fees to be charged in the future in accordance with the standards set by the Price Bureau. Patients can register under their real names via mobile devices and consult with physicians “face-to-face” through remote audio-video connections. Alternatively, patients may undergo relevant examinations at designated service points within chain pharmacies. Following a video consultation, they receive an electronic prescription from the physician and can directly obtain their medications at the pharmacy. The entire process takes approximately 10 minutes, offering convenience and efficiency.

Chinese PLA General Hospital (301)



The Telemedicine Center of the Chinese PLA General Hospital was established in 1997, becoming the first institution in China to conduct international and domestic telemedicine activities. Currently, its services encompass remote medical consultations, imaging consultations (including electrocardiography and pathology), remote education and training, remote medical monitoring, remote preoperative guidance, discussion of complex medical cases, and remote emergency care.

The center currently has 19 remote consultation rooms, all equipped with Polycom 8000 series high-definition video terminal equipment. It has played an active role in responding to various domestic and international emergencies and major disasters, such as the emergency rescue missions for the April 28 Jiaoji Railway major traffic accident, the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake, the April 14 Yushu earthquake in Qinghai, and the April 20 Ya’an earthquake in Sichuan, earning widespread acclaim from all sectors of society.

Feature: Establishment of a Tele-Cardiology Platform for Non-Invasive Cardiac Consultations
Establish a new one-stop online medical service model integrating “assisted diagnosis, clinical practice, and remote medical institutions” to help primary healthcare facilities across various regions resolve diverse complex challenges encountered in their daily operations. The Non-invasive Cardiac Testing Center is a comprehensive facility equipped with advanced information processing capabilities, integrating a wide range of non-invasive diagnostic technologies, including conventional electrocardiography (ECG), ambulatory ECG (Holter monitoring), treadmill exercise testing, echocardiography, cardiac computed tomography (CT), ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, assessment and measurement of peripheral arterial stiffness, and remote ECG monitoring. To date, the center has served 6,000 patients, with an annual examination volume exceeding 170,000 cases.
For example, the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital is responsible for providing telemedicine services—primarily video consultations—and two-way referral services to Guizhou Province, delivering clinical teaching and continuing education training, and guiding Guizhou Province in piloting telemedicine policies.

Peking University People's Hospital

As a Grade 3A university-affiliated hospital, Peking University People’s Hospital has established itself as a pivotal center for medical diagnosis and treatment, medical education, and medical research in China. It boasts abundant resources in healthcare, teaching, academic disciplines, and expert personnel. For instance, it collaborated with Toronto Western Hospital in Canada to implement a remote simulation training program for the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS), and engaged in remote exchanges on the diagnosis and treatment of complex cases with Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States. The hospital possesses a robust foundation in health information technology infrastructure and has accumulated successful experience in providing targeted assistance to regions including Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Yunnan.
Peking University People’s Hospital will leverage its telemedicine service network to provide remote medical services, primarily including multidisciplinary consultations for complex and rare diseases, critical care consultations, pathology consultations, intensive care monitoring, surgical guidance, remote outpatient clinics, and remote ward rounds. It will offer clinical teaching and continuing education training, assist healthcare institutions in partner provinces (autonomous regions) in establishing and improving medical quality management systems, and enhance the treatment capabilities and service levels of healthcare professionals. Furthermore, it will support eligible healthcare institutions in partner provinces (autonomous regions) in developing key disciplines and cultivating specialized talent, while guiding health education initiatives to raise public health awareness and self-management skills.

China-Japan Friendship Hospital

Established in 1998, the Telemedicine Center was designated as the National Health and Family Planning Commission’s Telemedicine Management and Training Center in 2012. The center is equipped with multiple tiers of telemedicine systems adaptable to various conditions, including high-definition video telemedicine systems, 2D and 3D remote surgical demonstration systems, and software-based video systems.
The Center has successively conducted telemedicine activities with numerous countries and regions both domestically and internationally, covering remote consultations, tele-education, virtual ward rounds, and exchanges on remote discipline development. By establishing telemedicine system interoperability with over 2,000 medical institutions at home and abroad, it has carried out a series of telemedicine-related initiatives.


Furthermore, a telemedicine service platform and an online education platform for telemedicine have been established. A member hospital login system has been developed for partner hospitals engaged in remote collaboration, thereby directly establishing a platform for remote hospital assistance, such as the Telemedicine Management Training Platform for Pediatric Specialties.



Peking Union Medical College Hospital

As the National Consultation Center for Complex and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital boasts strong comprehensive capabilities. It not only expands collaborations with top-tier international medical institutions but also continuously pursues technological innovation, leveraging telemedicine to enhance healthcare efficiency and optimize the allocation of medical resources.

The Multidisciplinary Team for Comprehensive Treatment of Malignant Brain Tumors at Peking Union Medical College Hospital maintains a long-standing collaborative partnership with the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Brain Tumor Center, one of the most authoritative cancer research and treatment institutions in the United States. For complex cases or patients with special needs, international remote consultations are available to provide the most advanced, authoritative, and cutting-edge treatment protocols globally.



In addition, the Department of Dermatology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital has established a close collaboration with the Institute of Image and Graphics in the Department of Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University. This partnership aims to provide remote diagnosis and treatment for dermatology patients through telemedicine-assisted consultations and automated, standardized, and accurate disease assessment methods, with the goal of reducing diagnostic and treatment costs, improving the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy, and advancing treatment methodologies.

In addition, the National Consultation Center, administered by the Bureau of Medical Administration and Hospital Management of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), has designated Peking Union Medical College Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and West China Hospital of Sichuan University as national-level regional centers. Experts at the Consultation Center are renowned pathologists and professors selected nationwide through assessments conducted by the Bureau of Medical Administration and Hospital Management of the NHFPC. The Consultation Center will categorize experts according to their specialties and provide consultation and advisory services to provincial-level centers and medical institutions.



The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine

Established the Zhejiang University Teleconsultation Development Center, which conducts over 250 expert-led visual teleconsultations on an outpatient basis daily. Services offered include teleconsultation, remote monitoring, tele-education, two-way referral, remote appointment scheduling, and regional sharing of medical imaging, electrocardiogram (ECG), and laboratory test results. The system enables patients to receive face-to-face medical consultations with provincial-level experts via visual teleconsultation rooms at local partner hospitals. For patients who require treatment at provincial hospitals, the Teleconsultation Center can facilitate appointment registration; alternatively, patients may choose to receive care locally.

1. Establish a remote consultation platform:


2. Establish a visual remote continuing education system to simultaneously conduct visual remote continuing education for 43 collaborative hospitals;
3. Online Outpatient Hospital System:

West China Hospital, Sichuan University

Established in June 2003, the Telemedicine Center of West China Hospital leverages its clinical, basic medical, and preventive medicine resources. It was designated as the West China Telemedicine Education Center of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association and subsequently became a national-level base for continuing medical education.

The operational model features a network covering 18 provinces and municipalities across China, collaborating with hospitals at all levels, including township health centers. The West China Hospital Telemedicine Network primarily provides two types of services: remote consultation for complex and difficult cases, and diagnostic consultation for medical imaging. These telemedicine services are delivered through the transmission and sharing of documents and images, real-time online audio interaction, and on-demand access to educational courseware. Current areas of exploration include remote consultations, response to sudden events such as disasters, collaborative medical services, and two-way patient referrals.

Chinese People's Armed Police Force General Hospital



The Medical Intelligence Center, established in 2006 and formerly known as the Telemedicine Website Department, is primarily responsible for providing telemedicine services to officers and soldiers of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force nationwide as well as civilian patients. The center currently operates three modern teleconsultation rooms and two distance-learning classrooms with a capacity of over 100 attendees each. It has established teleconsultation partnerships with more than 600 military and civilian remote sites affiliated with our hospital, conducting over 2,000 teleconsultations annually. The figure below shows the statistics of teleconsultation cases at the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force from 2004 to 2014:

Three remote consultation rooms and one remote teaching room have been established. The consulting experts are categorized into the surgical system (comprising 27 departments), the internal medicine system (comprising 27 departments), and the auxiliary diagnostic and therapeutic departments (comprising 8 departments). In addition to remote consultations, remote teaching is conducted, with expert lectures broadcast live twice a week on the Military Remote Medical Information Network to accelerate the dissemination of new medical technologies.



Xuanwu Hospital

Xuanwu Hospital has completed the construction of the National Telestroke Center and put it into operation. Relying on the Science and Technology for Public Benefit Program, the National Telestroke Center has established strategic partnerships with nearly 20 district and county hospitals in Beijing, the Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, and the Beijing Cerebrovascular Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance. Through remote diagnosis, remote surgical guidance, and the establishment of national-level and regional-level treatment centers, the center aims to optimize the allocation of medical resources for stroke, increase the thrombolysis rate for acute ischemic stroke, reduce mortality and disability rates, and ultimately lower the medical costs for stroke patients. Additionally, it seeks to train a cohort of qualified healthcare professionals in stroke screening, prevention, and treatment at the grassroots level, establish a continuous service model for stroke screening and prevention, and enhance the standardization of stroke diagnosis and treatment in China.

Peking University Third Hospital

Led by Peking University Third Hospital (hereinafter referred to as “PUKH”), the Haidian District Central-Eastern Medical Consortium, which includes Beijing Social Welfare Hospital, private hospitals, and community health service centers, has officially commenced operations. The PUKH Medical Consortium, also known as the Haidian District Central-Eastern Medical Consortium, comprises 23 member hospitals. Following its establishment, PUKH will provide support to member hospitals through specialized departmental pairing assistance, two-way referrals, remote consultations, a medical laboratory center, talent development, information technology support, and appointment registration services.

Peking University Cancer Hospital

On May 6, 2010, the hospital officially launched its high-definition (HD) network-based teleconsultation service. This service provides remote consultation and guidance to institutions such as Baotou Cancer Hospital and Handan Cancer Hospital. The HD teleconsultation system delivers audio-visual quality that closely simulates an in-person, face-to-face interaction. It enables genuine real-time, face-to-face interactive consultations, allowing patients to consult with top-tier specialists in Beijing without the need for long-distance travel.

Beijing Anzhen Hospital

Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University’s Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism has partnered with Life Online Beijing Technology Co., Ltd. to launch a remote diabetes management service. Through an advanced web-based management platform, doctors and patients can interact seamlessly; patients can perform self-monitoring at home according to personalized management plans developed by their physicians, while receiving remote systematic care from diabetes specialists and nurses.

Beijing Fuwai Cardiovascular Hospital

As the only national center integrating clinical care, scientific research, medical education, and medical research, it is also the world’s largest center for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, renowned both domestically and internationally for its expertise in managing complex, refractory, and critical cardiovascular conditions. The Fuwai Hospital Remote Consultation Center has been established to provide services including medical consultations, training, expert-led surgeries, patient referrals, and expedited access channels.

Phase I of the Telemedicine Platform System Project, centered on Fuwai Hospital of Cardiovascular Diseases, connects with its ten affiliated subordinate hospitals to implement targeted assistance. This initiative effectively leverages Fuwai Hospital’s medical resources to conduct telemedical services such as remote imaging consultation and diagnosis. Simultaneously, it pilots various collaborative telemedicine applications, including remote education, remote quality monitoring, and mobile telemedicine. In subsequent phases, the platform will be gradually expanded to achieve nationwide coverage.



Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University

The Beijing Children’s Hospital Group Teleconsultation Platform was officially launched on June 30, 2014. The Group has established a teleconsultation center equipped with advanced and comprehensive software and hardware, ensuring high practicality. On the software side, the platform features robust data upload and storage capabilities, including dedicated sections for uploading consultation materials and medical images. It supports online annotation and online reading of DICOM-format images, guaranteeing that all patient imaging data is presented to consulting experts without distortion. On the hardware side, 1080P high-definition cameras and two 55-inch LCD high-definition displays enable both parties in the remote consultation to enjoy superior HD visual quality. The system is also equipped with external audio sources and microphones.


The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University

The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University took the lead in establishing a Telemedicine Consultation Center across the province, covering specialties such as cardiology, cerebrovascular diseases, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, and orthopedics. The system features functionalities including remote consultation, specialist consultation, two-way referral, high-definition audio-video interaction, video on demand, remote training and examination management, information dissemination, and data statistics. It meets the comprehensive needs of networked hospitals for conducting remote consultations, video conferences, remote education, and information sharing.

Dalian Municipal Central Hospital

In 2013, the Municipal Central Hospital was designated as the “Liaoning Provincial Grassroots Hospital Telemedicine Consultation Center” by the Liaoning Provincial Department of Health.
It is reported that the telemedicine technologies at Dalian Municipal Central Hospital not only enable remote radiological diagnosis but also facilitate remote diagnostics for ultrasound, electrocardiography (ECG), ambulatory ECG monitoring, gastrointestinal endoscopy, and pathology. This marks a genuine transition from single-modality imaging diagnosis to remote multidisciplinary consultation for complex cases, as well as an expansion from telemedicine to tele-education. The system also supports online appointment scheduling, two-way patient referrals, and the sharing of electronic medical records, health archives, and test results. Furthermore, Dalian Municipal Central Hospital has established collaborative partnerships with international medical institutions; notably, it has conducted remote case consultations with the Cedars-Sinai Imaging Center in Los Angeles, USA, for over 300 cases.

Jiangsu Province Hospital

The mobile telemedicine system has been launched to remotely guide county-level hospitals in performing cardiac surgeries based on imaging data, thereby improving the timeliness of treatment for patients with heart disease and jointly establishing a new platform for healthcare access. The activation of the remote consultation system enabled China’s first high-definition coronary angiography, real-time digital image acquisition, and long-distance IP transmission in 2013, transforming traditional consultation models. Leveraging the telemedicine system, cardiac specialists from Jiangsu Province People’s Hospital can provide remote guidance to junior physicians in various regions, overcoming geographical barriers.

Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University

Nanfang Hospital was established in 1941, and the Telemedicine Service Center of Nanfang Medical University was founded in June 2010. It is now connected with numerous hospitals across China. Serving as the external service window of Nanfang Hospital, the center aims to build a comprehensive, multi-functional telemedicine hub. Its services encompass remote medical consultations, imaging consultations, remote education and training, academic exchanges, video conferencing, remote patient monitoring, preoperative guidance, discussion of complex cases, emergency remote treatment, and telemedicine research, integrating these capabilities into a unified healthcare platform.

Service Items:

Xiangya Hospital of Central South University

The Telemedicine Center of the Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, was established in 2014. Its telemedicine system is an open, distributed application system comprising computer software and hardware equipment that support various telemedicine services, as well as network communication infrastructure. A comprehensive telemedicine system includes client networks, camera systems, audio systems, image and audio compression modules, data streaming broadcast modules, image snapshot and audiovisual storage modules, medical record query modules, and intelligent medical device interface modules. The center has primarily focused on the following areas: 1. Development of a high-end remote consultation system; 2. Development of a grassroots remote consultation system; 3. Development of a remote education and training system; 4. Formulation of management regulations, standards, and norms for remote consultations.

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Telemedicine Consultation Center

The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University began establishing Xinjiang’s first telemedicine system in 2008, and the People’s Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region also started constructing its telemedicine system in 2009. The Health Department of the Autonomous Region later issued specific directives requiring county-level hospitals to adhere to the “one hospital, two lines” principle, ensuring that each hospital was equipped with both consultation systems from the People’s Hospital of the Autonomous Region and the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University. Consequently, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Teleconsultation Center was composed of the teleconsultation sub-centers of these two hospitals. In July 2010, the People’s Hospital of the Autonomous Region officially upgraded its Teleconsultation Center to a “Network Hospital,” becoming the first fully functional “Network Hospital” in Xinjiang, integrating services such as appointment scheduling, remote consultations, and extended care for discharged patients. The functions provided by the Xinjiang Teleconsultation Center also include telephone inquiries, medical service appointments, registration booking, two-way referrals, remote consultations, specialist outpatient services, imaging consultations, pathology consultations, and mobile ward rounds.

The PLA Telemedicine Information Network



The PLA Telemedicine Information Network, approved for initiation by the Ministry of Health of China as the “Junzi No. 2 Project,” is one of the three major initiatives in the informatization construction of the PLA’s healthcare system. The network features a comprehensive organizational and management framework, with the establishment of a Telemedicine Network Management Center. It has set up a three-tier application structure comprising the PLA Telemedicine Center, telemedicine centers at major command levels, and telemedicine workstations to carry out operational activities. Furthermore, it has standardized technical specifications for various facilities, including telemedicine consultation rooms, remote teaching studios, telemedicine education classrooms, remote electronic reading rooms, and server rooms.
Currently, the networked hospitals cover major and medium-sized cities across China. The system includes over 220 two-way remote consultation centers at tertiary-level or higher hospitals, such as the Chinese PLA General Hospital, Air Force General Hospital, Navy General Hospital, People's Armed Police General Hospital, Military Region General Hospitals, and Central Hospitals; more than 570 one-way remote teaching stations; and three mobile remote consultation vehicles.

The services provided by the PLA Telemedicine Information Network are mainly delivered through its one-way and two-way sites:
1. Main Functions of Remote Medicine Receive-Only Stations: Remote Teaching, Video Conferencing, and Information Dissemination. Scope of Application for Remote Medicine Receive-Only Stations: The receive-only stations of the Military-Wide Remote Medicine Information Network are primarily applicable to small and medium-sized hospitals that have relatively scarce medical resources and information and urgently need to improve their diagnostic capabilities.
2. Two-Way Telemedicine Stations: Remote Consultation, Video Conferencing, Information Dissemination, Remote Teaching, and Information Dissemination.