The National Platform for Public Health Information Has Been Basically Completed.

  “Electronic health records from 25 provinces and electronic medical records from 17 provinces can be shared and accessed within their respective provinces, while examination and test results from 204 prefecture-level cities have achieved interoperability and sharing.” On November 7, the National Health Commission held a press conference, during which Mao Qunan, Director-General of the Planning Department of the National Health Commission, announced that the National Platform for Public Health Information has been basically completed.

  The “14th Five-Year Plan for National Health Informatization” further calls for launching a nationwide campaign to achieve seamless information interoperability and sharing among medical and health institutions. According to Mao Qunan, by the end of 2025, pilot provinces plan to provide residents with real-time, authorized access to their electronic health records.

  “This targeted campaign is driven by specific application scenarios,” explained Mao Qun’an. “As long as patients have an electronic health card, it can be used seamlessly across different hospitals, and a single examination will enable the mutual access and sharing of medical test and examination results among institutions. By then, every resident will have their own electronic health record, accessible across provinces, and commercial health insurance claims can also be settled in a one-stop process.”

  “As a pilot hospital, our institution processes more than 7,400 mutually recognized test items daily, with a recognition rate of approximately 70%,” said Zhou Wence, President of the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University. He added that mutual recognition of test results has alleviated patients’ financial burdens, streamlined their medical records, and reduced the need for redundant testing.

  One of the key objectives of this targeted initiative is to comprehensively promote the interoperability and sharing of medical examination and test results. According to Mao Qun’an, at the national level, information standards and specifications for the interoperability and sharing of such results have been gradually established; a list of items subject to mutual recognition has been defined; an encoded database of examination and test items has been developed; a master index data service interface for cross-provincial sharing of results has been put in place; and management systems for quality control and authorized access to these results have been refined. Currently, several pilot provinces have already implemented mechanisms for interoperability and sharing, such as “imaging clouds.”

  Lin Jie, Deputy Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission, explained that to address the reluctance to adopt mutual recognition—stemming from concerns about reduced revenue—relevant authorities have alleviated hospitals’ apprehensions by refraining from reducing either the overall regional medical insurance budget or the individual hospital’s budget. At the same time, by establishing quality‑control standards and setting up resource‑sharing centers, they have enhanced the consistency of regional imaging and laboratory testing, thereby resolving the issue of hospitals “daring not” to accept each other’s test results.

  “Currently, some patients have not completed their diagnosis and treatment during the consultation,” said Zhou Wence. “Doctors can continue to provide medical services to these patients through the Smart Doctor app on their mobile devices.”

  The sharing and interoperability of health information are giving rise to new models and avenues of exploration in diagnosis and treatment. Lin Jie cited as an example that, through the “Zheli Health eSheng” mobile app, residents can engage in self‑management of their health by accessing health records and undergoing health‑index assessments.

  In response to public concerns about data security, Mao Qun’an stated that patient privacy can be effectively safeguarded through technologies such as encrypted QR codes and authorized access mechanisms, while efforts to prevent the misuse of medical and health data are also being advanced in parallel.

  Zhou Wence stated that Gansu Province has clearly designated, within its hospital information system, the examination and test items that are eligible for sharing. During the course of diagnosis and treatment, physicians may only access a patient’s historical examination and test results from other hospitals within the province that have been marked as shareable and fall within the validity period of the mutual recognition program.

[Editor-in-charge: Yang Fan]

Source: Science and Technology Daily