The development of intelligent healthcare in China

Abstract

Background: Intelligent healthcare (IH) is proposed with the fast application of Internet of Things technology in the healthcare area in recent years. It is considered as an expansion of e-health and telemedicine. As the largest developing country, China is investing large amounts of resources to push forward the development of IH. It is one of the centerpieces of the country's New Healthcare Reform, and great expectation is placed on it to help solve the conflict between limited healthcare resources and the large patient population.

Materials and methods: Essential policies, milestones, standards, and specifications from the Chinese government since the 1990s were reviewed to show the brief development history of IH in China. Some typical cases and products have been analyzed to present the current situation. The main problems and future development directions have been summarized.

Conclusions: The IH industry in China has great potential and is growing very fast, but a lot of challenges also exist. In the future both government support and the active participation of nongovernmental capital are needed to push forward the whole industry.

Keywords: China; e-health; intelligent healthcare; mobile healthcare; telemedicine.