In today's Chinese healthcare system, there is a serious challenge of uneven resource distribution. To address this challenge, healthcare reform has been focused on the establishment of medical communities and alliances, and implementation of tiered diagnosis and treatment, in an attempt to shift from a treatment-centered to a health-centered healthcare model. Internet and digital technologies play a crucial role to support this paradigm shift, as it enables more effective exchange of information between healthcare stakeholders, improve efficiency of resource allocation, thereby improving the patient journey.
WeChat, as an ubiquitous mobile application in China, plays an important role to support the digitization of healthcare. For example, individual users can access hospital and pharmacy services through public accounts or mini-programs. To reduce access barrier, Tencent Health mini-program has created a central portal where users can access hospital booking services, as well as health education content, healthcare ID card & health insurance card required for both online/offline services. AI is also used throughout to support booking with the right doctors, digitization of personal health records, explanation of health terms, self management of chronic diseases etc. Similar AI, based on the latest large multi-modal models, is also being deployed to support family doctors to interact with patients on WeChat to improve both online and offline clinical experience.
