Improve the就医 experience and enhance patient satisfaction.

The National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine have issued 20 measures.

Recently, the National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine issued the “Notice on Launching a Thematic Campaign to Improve the Medical Care Experience and Enhance Patient Satisfaction” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”). From 2023 to 2025, this campaign will be implemented nationwide to address the pressing, difficult, and concerning issues faced by the public in accessing medical care, enhance the overall patient experience throughout the entire care process, improve patient satisfaction, and ensure that the people benefit from the high-quality development of public hospitals.

　　This thematic campaign, from the patient’s perspective and centered on the entire care‑seeking process, outlines 20 specific measures across six key areas. Over the next three years, it aims to embed a patient‑centered approach throughout all stages of medical services, comprehensively elevating the comfort, intelligence, and digitalization of healthcare delivery. The initiative seeks to foster a Chinese‑style modernized healthcare model characterized by more rational workflows, seamless service integration, greater efficiency, a more comfortable environment, and more empathetic care, thereby further enhancing the public’s sense of gain, well‑being, and security in accessing medical services.

　 　Hospitals at Level II and above should universally establish an appointment-based medical service system.

　　With regard to enhancing patients’ pre-visit experience, the notice mandates the refinement of the appointment-based medical consultation system. Hospitals at Level II and above are required to establish such systems across the board and leverage technologies such as artificial intelligence to improve the accuracy of appointment scheduling.

　　First, we offer appointment options through multiple channels and with a variety of valid identification documents, implement time-slot-based scheduling, and promote various appointment models such as centralized booking for examinations and tests. In addition, we rationally allocate appointment slots based on the specific needs of each specialty, ensuring ample time for communication between physicians and patients.

　　Second, we will promote a variety of appointment‑booking models, including in‑clinic, interdepartmental, follow-up visits, within treatment teams, and within medical consortiums. Secondary and tertiary hospitals will allocate a certain proportion of their appointment slots to primary‑care facilities, leveraging the proactive role of family physicians in appointment‑based referrals and scheduled examinations, thereby enhancing the continuity of care.

　　Third, we are exploring the implementation of an AI‑powered triage system and integrating it with the outpatient electronic health record system to establish an end-to-end workflow encompassing intelligent consultation, triage, appointment scheduling, and medical history collection.

　　Fourth, we will optimize the appointment-based medical service platform, implement real-name registration for appointments, strengthen management of appointment cancellations and no-shows, and crack down rigorously on ticket scalpers.

　　The notice stipulates that, where conditions permit, medical institutions may implement “pre-admission” for patients with a clear diagnosis and relatively stable clinical status who, upon assessment, meet the criteria for inpatient care and are scheduled for elective surgery. This approach ensures the quality and safety of medical care while enabling the completion of preoperative examinations and tests prior to admission, thereby reducing the preoperative waiting time after hospitalization.

　 　Encourage the provision of MDT services that “the patient stays still while the physician moves.”

　　To enhance patients’ outpatient experience, the notice mandates a reengineering of outpatient workflows. It calls for further optimizing process design to reduce patients’ time spent in the clinic. Specifically: first, streamline procedures such as appointment registration, payment, and report printing to shorten waiting times; second, strengthen patient guidance, clarify the protocol for returning same-day examination and test results, simplify processes requiring multiple outpatient visits or nursing care, and minimize disorganized patient flow; third, provide diverse payment options and, while ensuring financial security, explore implementing “diagnosis and treatment first, payment later” and “pay per visit” models.

　　The notice stipulates that medical institutions should leverage new technologies and innovative approaches, adopt a demand‑driven approach, and continuously refine and innovate their service models. First, they are to establish “one‑stop” outpatient service centers that offer patients services such as patient navigation, consultations, appointment scheduling for examinations and tests, handling of complaints and suggestions, and rental of convenient amenities, thereby helping patients become familiar with the medical‑care process.

　　Second, we will refine the multidisciplinary team (MDT) model, encouraging medical institutions to expand the range of specialties and conditions covered by MDT services. Where feasible, healthcare facilities may establish outpatient MDT stations to offer “patients stay put, clinicians move” MDT care.

　　Third, medical institutions are encouraged to establish new types of outpatient clinics, such as anesthesia, pain management, and health management, to offer a more diverse range of outpatient diagnostic and treatment services.

　　Fourth, we will promote an integrated Chinese and Western medicine model for outpatient care, establish multidisciplinary teams that combine the two systems, and implement joint diagnosis and treatment. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) institutions should summarize and disseminate comprehensive TCM therapies, as well as end-to-end service models that integrate prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.

　　Fifth, medical institutions that are able to do so are encouraged to flexibly schedule outpatient hours in accordance with their specific circumstances, thereby meeting the healthcare needs of working professionals, students, and other populations.

　　Sixth, family doctors are encouraged to provide appropriate services to eligible enrolled populations.

　 　Establishing a three-dimensional pre-hospital emergency medical care system

　　With regard to enhancing patients’ emergency care experience, the notice mandates strengthening pre-hospital emergency medical services. It calls for optimizing pre-hospital emergency response workflows, improving the accuracy of 120‑call location tracking, and reducing call‑response times. Additionally, it emphasizes bolstering both routine and mobile pre-hospital emergency resources, actively establishing a multi‑dimensional pre-hospital emergency care system, and elevating overall pre-hospital emergency capabilities.

　　At the same time, strengthen the seamless integration between pre-hospital and in-hospital care. Medical institutions at Level II and above should enhance the development of specialized centers for the management of chest pain, stroke, trauma, critical maternal conditions, and critical pediatric and neonatal cases; establish streamlined, efficient pathways for emergency and critical care coordination; and implement real-time patient data‑exchange systems linking pre-hospital and in-hospital settings, thereby improving the efficiency of emergency and critical care services.

　　Finally, ensure effective care for patients with acute and critical conditions. First, establish and refine a tiered triage system for emergency patients, adhering to the principle of “treat the urgent and the severe first.” Develop a tiered treatment pathway based on each patient’s condition, giving priority to the treatment of acute and critical cases while completing administrative formalities afterward.

　　Second, we are exploring the development of an integrated “three‑connect, three‑link” pre‑hospital–in‑hospital emergency and critical care model, establishing streamlined pathways that enable ambulances to proceed directly to the catheterization lab, the operating room, and the intensive care unit, while creating green channels for rapid transfer among pre‑hospital emergency services, primary healthcare facilities, and hospitals. Leveraging the emergency department as a platform, we are also instituting a multidisciplinary collaborative care system for patients with acute and critical conditions.

　　 Tertiary hospitals have generally established a management system for day surgery.

　　With regard to enhancing patients’ inpatient experience, the notice calls for the improvement of inpatient medical service systems. First, it emphasizes the establishment and refinement of a day‑care medical service system: tertiary hospitals are expected to universally institute management systems for day surgery, while medical institutions are encouraged to expand the scope of day‑care services and further improve the associated regulatory framework.

　　Second, we will advance the digitalization of clinical pathway management, expand the range and depth of conditions covered by clinical pathways, and establish integrated clinical pathways within medical consortiums.

　　Third, we will comprehensively promote the interoperability and sharing of examination and test results and related data, while strengthening quality control and management in relevant specialties.

　　Fourth, promote the application of appropriate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) technologies; in TCM hospitals, TCM‑based treatment should be the primary approach for diseases in which TCM excels.

　　The notice stipulates that comprehensive services for inpatients should be strengthened. Tertiary hospitals are encouraged to proactively explore and establish new pain-management models that cover the entire care continuum, from outpatient and emergency services through to inpatient care. Furthermore, pain-management approaches such as labor analgesia are to be promoted and widely implemented in secondary and higher-level hospitals.

　　 Leveraging medical consortia to enhance the continuity of healthcare services.

　　To enhance patients’ post‑visit experience, the notice mandates leveraging medical consortia to improve the continuity of healthcare services. Using urban medical groups and county‑level medical communities organized under a grid‑based structure as platforms, it calls for streamlining service delivery processes, ensuring smooth two‑way referral pathways, and allocating expert resources, outpatient appointment slots, and inpatient beds to the community level, thereby providing integrated health care services to residents within each grid. Furthermore, it seeks to promote the sharing of clinical information across medical consortia and to explore the establishment of smart medical consortia.

　　Strengthen post‑discharge management and follow-up care. Medical institutions should establish patient follow-up records and develop comprehensive follow-up plans, building multi‑channel, patient‑centered intelligent follow-up platforms to provide patients with more scientific, convenient, and professional outpatient rehabilitation and continuity of care. By leveraging data analytics, they can promptly identify potential issues, offer expedited access to care, and ensure enhanced post‑discharge support for patients. Institutions with the necessary resources are encouraged to use these follow-up platforms to enhance communication and engagement with patients.

　 　Creating “healthcare with greater warmth”

　　The notice requires improving the foundational and supportive functions that underpin the entire continuum of medical services.

　　Enrich the substance of high-quality nursing services. Strengthen the responsibility-based nursing system and rigorously implement core nursing protocols, such as tiered nursing and verification procedures. Solidly deliver fundamental nursing care, standardize the application of specialized nursing techniques, and provide holistic physical and psychological care. Encourage medical institutions to offer continuing care services to discharged patients with ongoing nursing needs. Promote the deployment of high-quality nursing resources from large hospitals to lower-level facilities.

　　Strengthen the humanistic development of medical institutions. First, hospitals at Level II and above should establish systems for medical social work and volunteer services, encouraging eligible institutions to set up dedicated medical social work departments and positions, enrich the scope and content of such services, and promote their systematic, professional, and standardized delivery. Second, uphold the noble spirit of the profession, standardize service language and conduct within medical facilities, enhance awareness and competence in doctor–patient communication, foster harmonious doctor–patient relationships, and deliver “healthcare services with greater warmth.” (Xiong Jian)

[Editor-in-charge: Zhang Qiaosu]

Source: People’s Daily Overseas Edition