China's smart healthcare provides patients with greater convenience

The integration of digital and intelligent applications into China's medical industry has brought greater convenience for patients.

In 2022, Changsha County in Changsha City, located in central China's Hunan Province, began a pilot program constructing a "smart" medical insurance system. Facial recognition systems have been installed at locations where fees are charged, medicines are collected and consultation desks are situated.

Facial recognition technology is especially convenient for the elderly who can be forgetful and sometimes fail to bring their insurance cards, according to Wang Changjuan, a resident at Huanghua town, Changsha County.

In November 2023, Liuyang City in the province launched a smart medical insurance platform, which provides medical assistance for people having difficulties in medical expenses due to serious illness at the time of paying fees.

A woman surnamed Lu is one of those who have benefited from this. Lu's two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and had been admitted to hospital 11 times, costing her over 450,000 yuan (around $63,070).

After medical insurance reimbursement, Lu paid 33,302 yuan (around $4,667) using the funds from her medical insurance. Additionally, she received assistance amounting to 13,000 yuan (around $1,822) as additional medical support.

"The money is of great help to our family," said Lu.

The city has provided medical assistance to 11,868 individuals so far, as the medical assistance fund spends over 35.92 million yuan (around $5.03 million).

Additionally, digitalization and standardization of the healthcare system help make the use of medical insurance funds safer.

For example, the handheld terminal nurses used to measure body temperature can upload patients' information to departments concerned in real time. Once the system detects clues that the name or face does not match or is suspected of being an impostor, it will trigger a warning.

In order to meet diverse demands for medical security, China has implemented various technological measures to simplify the process of seeking medical treatment, enhance the basic medical security system, improve insurance and aid mechanism for treating major and serious illnesses and strengthen the synergy between health insurance and medical assistance.