HAIKOU—The People’s Government of Hainan Province has unveiled the “Hainan Province’s Three Year Action Plan for High Quality Development of Digital Health System and Digital Health Economy (2024-2026),” setting its sights on establishing a comprehensive, industry-leading digital health ecosystem. The plan envisions a vibrant innovation landscape that benefits the public, supports medical practices, informs healthcare policies, and fosters industry growth, with effective platforms for the innovative transformation and orderly opening of health and medical data.
Under the plan, the government will open up “Three Medical Links and One Network” data resources, encouraging digital health companies to address the urgent challenges in medical services. This includes integrating provincial platforms for appointment registration, examination, and one-stop settlement to create a seamless online-offline service loop.
Hainan will focus on comprehensive and cyclical health needs, opening up innovative scenarios in key areas such as metabolic diseases, rehabilitation, pain management, respiratory health, pediatric myopia and amblyopia, orthopedics, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, sleep, and weight management. Each area will attract 3-5 leading enterprises to drive collaborative innovation in health service models and support internet hospitals in leveraging digital health services for disease treatment intervention.
The plan also promotes the application of health digital therapies in areas like “respiratory disease digital therapy+climate health” and “sleep digital therapy+forest health,” with a focus on psychological screening and health promotion for children and adolescents. Hainan will explore innovative digital psychological health screening and follow-up services in schools across the province.
An international telemedicine platform will be established among Class 3A hospitals to provide global medical services. The province will explore new models of digital health commercial insurance and establish an innovative payment system that combines medical insurance, commercial insurance, and out-of-pocket payments. Medical institutions are encouraged to apply digital nutrition assessment and intervention to enhance patient care.
Hainan will promote the use of digital-enabled surgical planning, navigation, and robots to improve surgical quality and accessibility. It will also enhance the efficiency and quality of regional health services through the application of artificial intelligence-assisted technologies in grassroots healthcare institutions.
The government will support innovative practices such as full-time health system monitoring, public health risk monitoring and early warning, and intelligent recommendation of health emergency plans based on generative artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain technologies.
Hainan will provide a digital solution that integrates the entire chain of medical enterprise collaborative innovation, regional specialty diseases, and digital clinical research, aiming to accelerate pharmaceutical innovation. The province will promote public hospitals to establish comprehensive internet hospitals.
Hainan will establish advantageous industrial clusters around elderly cognitive impairment, childhood autism, childhood vision, and chronic disease treatment, driving the formation of 5-8 characteristic advantageous digital health industry clusters. It will support key industrial parks such as Hainan Resort Software Community, Boao Lecheng, Haikou Medicine Valley, and Fullsing Town, and build platforms for industry chain cooperation and enhance intellectual property protection for digital health products.
Finally, Hainan will strengthen policy support for the R&D, manufacturing, application, and payment of digital health technology products, including them in the encouraged industry directory of Hainan Free Trade Port. It will license digital therapy diagnosis and treatment centers for qualified internet hospitals and allow physical medical institutions to apply for medical insurance designation. Internet hospitals will be supported to make payments and settlements through individual medical insurance accounts, with a charging catalog to be developed for digital services to explore overall medical insurance payment. – Flcube.com
