What’s new: China will establish a new unified national health information platform by 2025 which will expand on the use of its citizen’s pre-pandemic digital health codes, health authorities announced Wednesday.
“Each resident will have a dynamically managed digital health record and a full-featured electronic health code” in three years, according to a plan released by the National Health Commission (NHC) and two other state departments.
The “electronic health code” is different from the digital QR codes that track people’s Covid-related test records and travel history, an expert said.
“(These two) are not the same thing,” a person close to the NHC told Caixin, adding that the code mentioned in the plan is used for health services and is associated with information such as residents’ medical treatment records.
What’s more: The country will promote the application of the electronic health code by establishing a unique index created mainly based on residents’ identification numbers, the plan said.
The goals were listed as part of China’s “14th Five-Year National Health Informatization Plan,” where the country aims to also “basically realize” full connection coverage between public hospitals and the national health information platform by 2025, according to the plan.
Electronic medical records and a digital health record index database on the national and provincial levels will also be established during the five-year period, the departments said, in an effort to further promote the integration of the health industry and digital technology.
Cross-provincial access of citizens’ electronic medical records will also be established, where citizens will be able to obtain real-time digital records easily, the plan proposed.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)
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