ANALYSIS: SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE
After telemedicine, how will Asia take the next step in healthcare?
China’s internet hospital: Could this be the next step in digital healthcare? How a forward thinking initiative from China may become a new strategy for healthcare providers globally.
T
he pandemic has brought about an era of bold changes in the world, especially in healthcare. Tele-health and telemedicine became the trend that healthcare providers adopted and leveraged through the days when face-to-face contact was restricted throughout many different markets. But long before telehealth, China was already taking advantage of the opportunities in the spreading use of internet technology throughout its healthcare industry. The birth of internet hospitals throughout Mainland China According to a bulletin released by the World Health Organisation, China has a three-tier healthcare system: primary healthcare facilities are expected to provide affordable first-contact care, while secondary and tertiary care facilities provide specialist referral services. 26
HEALTHCARE ASIA
China has long been taking advantage of the opportunities in the spreading use of the internet through its healthcare industry
However, with no gatekeeping in the primary healthcare system, patients can freely choose their provider at any health facility, and many routinely use established hospital outpatient services for firstcontact care. This has meant primary healthcare services in the country face several challenges,including overprescribing of profitable drugs and diagnostic tests, competition for patients where there is a fee-for-service, and increasing demand for healthcare, especially in the context of China’s rapidly ageing population. But authorities found that internet access was increasing in line with that same demand for healthcare. In statistics by Datareportal, there were 939.8 million internet users in China in January 2021. This was an increase of 10% from 2020 figures, and represents sustained growth since 2008, with internet penetration rising
22.7% then, to 59.6% today. China has been developing online triage and consultation services throughout that time. It was in October 2014, that the first “internet hospital” went online in China: the Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital was fully accredited by the Health Commission of Guangdong Province. By the end of that year, the fully online facility was dealing with almost 200 patients and issuing 120 prescriptions daily. Between 2016 and 2017 a wave of internet hospitals were being built in China. However, a period of uncertainty came in 2018 where a trial administration policy required local authorities to revoke all previously approved internet hospital licenses and to re-register them into the new policy. In 2019 policies were enacted
