The four provincial regions in the Yangtze Rivr Delta have made joint efforts to facilitate inter-provincial medical services to benefit the 235 million people in the delta. Five years ago, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta was upgraded into a national strategy.
Yongding Hospital in Suzhou is one of the first pilot hospitals in the Yangtze River Delta Integrated Demonstration Zone to pilot the "credit+medical" initiative. Patients can apply for a certain amount of credit when seeking medical treatment at this hospital, and complete the diagnosis and treatment settlement through the "medical treatment first, payment later" method, which has further improved the convenience of inter-provincial medical treatment.
In March, the cross-regional "credit+medical" digital application service scenario was piloted and implemented in three hospitals within the Yangtze River Delta Integrated Demonstration Zone.Based on the comprehensive management platform of public credit in the demonstration zone, this pilot project enables residents to continuously enhance their experience of seeking medical treatment in different places with local treatment through the exchange and sharing of inter provincial resident data.
“It is more convenient for us to come to Shanghai for medical treatment. By swiping the medical insurance card once, the self funded portion can be settled saving a lot of time”, Ms. Gu, a citizen of Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, said.
“When being admitted to the hospital, the patient clicks on the medical insurance card and authorizes activation. During the hospitalization period, there is no need to pay any more. The final payment is made when the expense list is collected and settlement is completed on their phone”, Qiu Yun, a citizen of Wujiang District, Suzhou, said.
With the increasing integration of the Yangtze River Delta region, an increasingly large number of people are working, seeking medical treatment, and living in places other than their hometowns. As a result, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui are committed to creating a new pattern of integrated development of medical care in the Yangtze River Delta.
The pilot project for direct settlement of outpatient expenses for remote medical treatment in the Yangtze River Delta region has been launched, covering 41 cities and over 10000 medical institutions in the delta region, providing a prototype for inter-provincial direct settlement of outpatient expenses nationwide.
“We will continue to expand the scope of pilot medical institutions while also strengthening the strength of inter-provincial data sharing, continuously optimizing processes and ultimately enabling the people to enjoy more efficient and convenient processes”, Wang Zitong, Senior Director of the Business and Industrial Development Department of the Executive Committee of the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integration Development Demonstration Zone, said.
