State Council General Office Issues Guidelines on Advancing Tiered Diagnosis and Treatment System, Aiming for Major Illnesses to Be Treated Within Counties by 2017

1. The General Office of the State Council Issues a Document to Promote the Tiered Diagnosis and Treatment System, Aiming to Basically Ensure That Patients with Serious Illnesses Can Receive Treatment Within Their Counties by 2017

According to a September 11 report on the Chinese government’s official website, the General Office of the State Council has officially released its Guiding Opinions on the Establishment of a Tiered Diagnosis and Treatment System. The document emphasizes improving the tiered diagnosis and treatment system with a focus on primary care, aiming to basically establish a tiered diagnosis and treatment system suited to China’s national conditions by 2020.

The assessment and evaluation criteria for the pilot program of tiered diagnosis and treatment were simultaneously released, stating:

By 2017, the compliance rate for the development of primary healthcare institutions was ≥95%, and the proportion of visits to primary healthcare institutions accounted for ≥65% of total medical visits;

In pilot areas, counties with a population of over 300,000 shall have at least one Class II Grade A general hospital and one Class II Grade A traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospital; the rate of medical visits within the county shall increase to approximately 90%, basically achieving the goal that patients with serious illnesses do not need to seek treatment outside their county.

There are more than two general practitioners per 10,000 urban residents, and each township health center has at least one general practitioner; the coverage rate of contracted services provided by urban general practitioners is ≥30%.

Meanwhile, telemedicine services cover more than 50% of the counties in the pilot regions. The standard also proposes integrating existing healthcare information systems and enhancing information management functions for tiered diagnosis and treatment, achieving basic coverage of all secondary and tertiary hospitals as well as over 80% of township health centers and community health service centers.



2. GlaxoSmithKline 1500Investing tens of thousands of US dollars in digital therapeutics

Recently, GlaxoSmithKline invested $15 million in SetPoint Medical, a company specializing in the development of electronic medicines, bringing the total amount of its Series C funding to $43 million.

So-called electronic drugs use electrical pulses to modulate the body, thereby achieving therapeutic effects.

SetPoint will allocate these funds toward Phase II clinical trials of a novel therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. This therapy involves implanting a microchip in the patient’s neck to deliver electrical pulses that stimulate the vagus nerve, thereby sending signals to the body to suppress overactive immune responses and treat autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

What is even more intriguing is that, although the chip requires surgical implantation, patients can control it via an iPad after implantation.

However, whether this digital therapeutic can replace pharmaceuticals and whether its effects are durable remain to be determined by future clinical outcomes.



3、NIHAnnounced an investment of 48 million$10,000Incorporating Genomic Data into Electronic Health Records

Recently, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a plan to invest $48 million in integrating genomic information into electronic health record (EHR) systems. The NIH will fund at least 10 research institutions to jointly carry out this initiative, which aims primarily to enhance EHR systems and the health insurance framework in support of the Precision Medicine Initiative. The project will focus on studying 100 disease-related genes.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, serving as the sequencing and genotyping centers for this NIH initiative, will jointly receive $16.9 million in R&D funding over the next four years, emerging as the largest beneficiaries.



4. US 911Event 14Anniversary: 3700Famous Rescuer Diagnosed with Cancer

According to a report by the New York Post, more than 3,700 firefighters, police officers, and sanitation workers involved in ground rescue and cleanup efforts have been diagnosed with cancer 14 years after the 9/11 attacks, including 2,110 firefighters. These figures continue to rise and do not include ordinary residents who have developed cancer.

On the website of the New York Department of Environmental Protection and Health, thyroid cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and prostate cancer are the five most prevalent types among “9/11”-related diseases.



5. Apple Launches Two Medical Apps

The first product launched at Apple’s latest event was AirStrip, an Apple Watch application capable of detecting vital signs.

After the user puts on the watch, Airstrip can not only display the wearer’s basic vital signs such as heart rate, but also detect medication adherence and missed doses, transmitting the data to physicians.

Furthermore, AirStrip is currently being used to monitor hospitalized pregnant women, tracking both maternal and fetal heart rhythms. When integrated with Sense4Baby, it enables physicians to remotely manage patients by monitoring uterine contractions and other physiological conditions. Pregnant women can also listen to their fetus’s heartbeat via the Apple Watch app.

Apple also released an app called 3D4Medical, designed to simulate the biomechanics of musculoskeletal movement and injury. Using the Apple Pencil, users can view cross-sections and magnified views of various muscle tissues and organs, examine the condition of diseased joints and bones, and visualize pathological osteophyte formation. The app allows for image annotation and virtual dissection to simulate surgical procedures.



 

By John Wang