When a hospital runs a treatment system, artificial intelligence (AI) tells a hypertension patient when to take medicine based on the person's electronic health record and recommends suitable meals. Imaging equipment loaded with AI algorithms precisely identifies tiny lesions on computed tomography (CT) scans to help a doctor make additional checks, and parents use a mobile app to understand a child's constitution.
AI has deeply penetrated and taken root in medical settings in and outside hospitals. This kind of "AI medicine" is expected to become a reality in China within the next few years. China has said it will comprehensively introduce AI technology across the entire course of care, from disease prevention to diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and health management.
The core is to fully roll out AI clinical assistance in primary care by 2030 and commercialize AI clinical assistance at higher-level medical institutions. To that end, the Chinese government plans to swiftly put in place data infrastructure and standards and regulatory frameworks, with the ultimate aim of raising the quality of care patients experience.
According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 5th, five ministries and agencies including the National Health Commission and the National Development and Reform Commission released Implementation opinions on promoting and regulating AI + medical and health applications on the 4th. Specifically, by 2027 they will build high-quality data in the health care field and begin full application of large-scale AI models and intelligent agents. AI clinical assistance in primary care, specialist clinical decision support, and AI-based patient guidance and consultation services are expected to be used widely across medical institutions.
Then, by 2030, AI clinical assistance in primary care will be effectively rolled out across the board, and the use of AI technologies such as medical imaging AI reading assistance and clinical decision support will be made commonplace at secondary or higher medical institutions (general-hospital level). They also plan to complete AI medical standards and guideline systems and to establish hubs for world-leading research and talent development in various locations.
Xinhua News Agency said, "Through this, focusing on commonly occurring diseases, AI is expected to become a reliable assistant to doctors," and noted, "AI clinical assistance in primary care will provide doctors with diagnostic support, prescription review, and follow-up management, and could raise diagnostic capabilities. In particular, medical imaging AI will advance beyond a single-disease focus to multi-disease reading by organ, lifting both reading efficiency and report quality."
Patient-centered measures to resolve inconveniences during the course of care will also be introduced in stages. Through accurate reservation, triage, and guidance using AI, as well as pre-visit questionnaires and post-visit management, secondary or higher medical institutions will provide smart services throughout the pre-treatment stage.
They will also distribute smart devices at the bedside to support status monitoring, predictive alerts, and smart nursing. They will promote the sharing of test results across regions and institutions, and expand services such as mobile payments, one-stop medical insurance settlement, rapid insurance payouts, satisfaction surveys, and post-discharge management to focus on improving the patient experience.