The State Council's recent guideline on promoting health services using internet
technologies gives the green light to internet services conducted by medical institutions,
and is expected to help high quality resources benefit wider areas, while the application
of related regulations should be urged, officials and experts said.
The guideline, focusing on "Internet Plus healthcare", was issued by the State Council on April 28.
It makes clear that internet technologies should be used to offer medical and public health
services, promote family doctor practices, improve drug supply and medical bill settlement,
carry out medical education, and provide artificial intelligence services.
The internet hospital modalities will be applied, the guideline said.
Pan Jiyang, director of the psychology department of No 1 Hospital affiliated to Jinan University
in Guangzhou, said the new guideline is part of a broader push in the central government efforts in
promoting Internet Plus healthcare, and will have a big impact on the existing medical system.
Internet services in medical consulting has already emerged. For example,
the remote medical consultation center of the Fudan University's affiliated Huashan Hospital,
has been established," Pan said. "Yet the complicated thing is that, currently,
medical services are separated from medical consultations. The guideline is expected to bridge
the gap between the two to help internet medical services to become more systematic.
Pan noted that to realize the development of internet hospitals, it is equally important
to see enhanced efforts in related laws and regulations, payment channels, etc,
and these need to be tackled step-by-step instead of all at once.
Not all kinds of diseases are best treated in internet hospitals,
and not all doctors are capable of providing internet-based medical services,
" Pan said. "Therefore, efforts are required to nurture internet based medical services,
and a good and comprehensive development of internet
hospitals needs about three to five years to nurture.
During this process, protecting personal information will be vitally important,
Pan said. The new guideline encourages better sharing of health information,
improving hospital management and services, and strengthened oversight of medical services
and data security. At the same time, enhance efforts are required to use internet
technologies to improve levels of healthcare in poor
areas and border regions, the guideline stressed.
The guideline was approved during a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang
on April 12. During that meeting, Li stressed that as China joins the ranks of middle-income
countries, the demand for health services has increased substantially,
and "Internet Plus Healthcare" can help alleviate the problem of inaccessible and expensive public
health services that have long been a major concern for the general public.