Notice of the General Office of the People's Government of Hainan Province on Issuing the Three-Year Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of Digital Health System and Digital Economy of Hainan Province (2024-2026)

People's Government of cities, counties, and autonomous counties, institutions directly under the provincial government:

The Three-year Action Plan for the High-quality Development of Digital Health System and Digital Economy of Hainan Province (2024-2026) was approved by the provincial government and is hereby issued for your earnest implementation.

General Office of the People's Government of Hainan Province

August 22, 2024

Three-Year Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of Digital Health System and Digital Economy of Hainan Province (2024-2026)

For the purposes of building a digital health system in all respects, accelerating the development of the digital economy, developing a nationally leading innovation hub for digital health, and speeding up the construction of a higher-level international health island with new quality productive forces, the Plan is hereby formulated.

I. General Requirements

Following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and leveraging the advantages of institutional integration innovation in the Hainan Free Trade Port, institutions shall "strive for digital diligence", strengthen the spearhead function of innovative scenarios and the support of policy systems for health maintenance, and work to pursue the coordinated and high-quality development of the digital health service system and digital health economy of the Hainan Free Trade Port in all respects. By the end of 2026, a comprehensive digital health system for the full lifecycle will be in place, topping the whole country, and there will be more innovative scenarios in areas such as people-centered benefits, medical assistance, governance support, and industry promotion. Platforms that support the orderly disclosure and innovative transformation of data factors regarding healthcare will take effect, thereby aggregating the digital health industry, rapidly improving the health of residents, and doubling the revenue of enterprises engaged in digital health innovation in the province.

II. Tasks

i. Innovative scenarios leading action.

1. People-oriented benefits.

(1) Digital health-oriented convenience scenarios. Digital convenience applications based on technologies such as artificial intelligence ("AI") shall be systematically provided to the public across healthcare institutions throughout the province. Data resources on the "integrated healthcare network" shall be opened. Digital health enterprises shall be encouraged to solve the pressing difficulties and problems that concern medical services most, which include iterating and integrating provincial platforms for making appointments, examinations, and one-stop payment, to create a closed offline and online convenience service loop. Applications such as open health records, digital health profiles, health reminders, access to clinical records, and digital popular medicine shall be created, thereby "making everyone have a lifelong electronic doctor".

(2) Innovative scenarios for digital treatment and interventions. Focus shall be placed on comprehensive health needs for the full lifecycle and open new scenarios in key areas such as metabolic diseases, rehabilitation, pain, respiratory issues, pediatric myopia and strabismus, musculoskeletal health, cardiovascular health, sleep, and weight management. Each area shall attract three to five competitive or leading enterprises to coordinate the innovation of associated health service models. Support shall also be provided to internet hospitals in utilizing digital therapeutics and other digital health services for disease treatment and intervention. The provincial clinical trial base and treatment center for digital therapeutics shall be opened and shared to encourage digital health institutions nationwide to carry out clinical trials, diagnosis, and treatment in Hainan. Furthermore, the closed-loop application of digital health products related to interventions for cognitive impairment in the elderly and metabolic diseases shall be accelerated, covering access, approval, charging, and reimbursement.

(3) Innovative scenarios for "Digital + Wellness". On the basis of Hainan's natural environment for therapy, digital therapeutics and other digital services shall be integrated to enhance the medical and technological attributes of climate therapy, forest therapy, and other services. Digital therapeutics applications in key areas such as "digital therapeutics for respiratory diseases + climate therapy" and "digital therapeutics for sleep + forest therapy" need to be promoted and wellness brands like "Breathe Freely in Hainan" and "Sleep Well in Hainan" shall be established, thereby creating a new health and wellness model integrating "Digital Therapeutics + Medical Services + Natural Climate" in Hainan and building a brand for digital health and wellness bases.

(4) Innovative scenarios for mental health screening and health promotion. Focusing on mental health screening and health promotion for children and adolescents, innovative approaches shall be explored to carry out digital mental health screenings and follow-up services across primary and secondary schools in the province, which is aimed to rapidly enhance screening quality, efficiency, and accessibility. Associated service standards and procedure regulations shall be refined to ensure standardized and normalized mental health services for children and adolescents throughout the province. Relevant mental health data shall also be integrated to support the iterative innovation of digital therapeutics and other digital technologies and services for mental health.

(5) International service scenarios for digital health. An international telemedicine platform shall be built in Grade 3A tertiary hospitals to provide international medical services. While exploring a new commercial insurance model for digital health, actions shall be taken to establish an innovative payment system for digital health services covered by "medical insurance + commercial insurance + individual payment". Accessible solutions shall be provided to foreign patients for easier medical experience through real-time multilingual translation, medical record translation, and optimization of medical terminology, with the help of AI and voice recognition technology.

(6) Scenarios for digital nutrition and digital microbiomes. Efforts shall be made to leverage Hainan's advantages as the home of longevity as well as its secure and orderly flow of cross-border data to develop a digital health island focused on nutrition and a data hub for microbiomes. Medical institutions shall be encouraged to implement digital nutrition assessments and interventions to enhance nutritional support and efficacy for patients undergoing surgery or cancer treatment. A digital precision nutrition service system for all demographics, including children, the elderly, and pregnant women, as well as a model for human microecological health management in Hainan shall be established. Driven by microbiome data, relevant institutions shall facilitate the storage and utilization of microbiome samples across populations, assetize microbiome data, and accelerate the research and development of microbial drugs and nutritional supplements.

2. Medical assistance.

(7) Future hospital construction scenarios. A model that utilizes "provincial coordination, hierarchical deployment and integration of centralized and decentralized management" shall be adopted to enhance the digital intelligence of Grade 3A tertiary hospitals. Digital-empowered surgical planning, navigation, and robotic surgery shall be further applied to improve surgical quality and accessibility. Furthermore, AI models shall be further standardized and applied, supporting the development of large models for traditional Chinese medicine and creating a digital platform for new drug research and development in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Efforts shall be made to attract innovative enterprises engaged in digital health, thereby building two to three future hospitals based on technologies such as 5G, medical Internet of Things ("IoT"), and digital twins.

(8) Digital medical alliance construction scenarios. The construction of a digital medical alliance shall be sped up to achieve regional functions of health institutions and full coverage of residents' health information. Institutions such as the remote imaging center shall build a "lower-level examinations, intelligent alerts, upper-level diagnostics" model in all respects. AI-assisted image reading, diagnostics, health management, digital therapeutics, and other technologies and services shall be promoted in grassroots medical and health institutions throughout the province, enhancing the efficiency and quality of regional health services.

(9) Expansion scenarios for quality medical resources at the grassroots. An intelligent system that analyzes, monitors, and assesses resources at the grassroots shall be built to achieve real-time management of the entire expansion process, including personnel, technology, and management, based on big data-oriented regional health needs and intelligent analysis and solution recommendations for departments and personnel at the grassroots. Efforts shall also be made to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of resources at the grassroots. VR/AR and digital twin technologies shall be employed to build a digital training platform that enhances the development of medical and technical talent.

3. Governance support.

(10) Smart health brain application scenarios. The construction of the Hainan Smart Health Island project shall be initiated. Focus shall be placed on supporting innovative practices that utilize generative AI, big data, and block chain technology for comprehensive monitoring of the health system, public health risk monitoring and early warning, and intelligent recommendations for health emergency plans. In alignment with the goals of the Healthy Hainan initiative, process monitoring, risk early warning, and intelligent strategy optimization shall be implemented. For health reform and development policies, intelligent simulations, impact pre-assessments, and correlation analyses shall be conducted to comprehensively enhance decision-making support in health governance.

(11) Digital health regulation scenarios. Relying on the integrated healthcare platform, medical treatment, health insurance, and pharmaceutical data shall be consolidated to promote joint regulation in the health sector. Real-world studies based on integrated healthcare data shall be conducted to support intelligent regulation. Innovative applications shall be strengthened in scenarios such as intelligent monitoring, decision support, resource allocation, quality management, and credit evaluation, continuously improving the level and effectiveness of regulation.

4. Industry promotion.

(12) Innovative scenarios for the pharmaceutical industry. Digital solutions shall be provided through "collaborative innovation between medical enterprises + regional special diseases + integrated platform for digital clinical studies" supported by big data and AI, accelerating pharmaceutical innovation in Hainan. Guided by data factors regarding healthcare, the full lifecycle management of biopharmaceutical innovation projects, such as marine biomedicine, shall be promoted. AI application shall be strengthened in areas such as the analysis of traditional Chinese medicine formula components, mechanism of action, and target elucidation, guiding scientific formulation, and innovative research and development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

(13) Development scenarios for the medical AI industry. Collaboration with world-leading AI enterprises and research institutions shall be strengthened to develop and promote AI-based personalized treatment plans and disease prediction. Internet AI companies and medical institutions shall be inspired to apply AI-based large models in healthcare service scenarios. Efforts shall also be made to encourage medical enterprises to engage in government-enterprise cooperation to establish an open and innovative platform for AI applications in healthcare, exploring and applying scenarios for individuals, medical institutions, research institutions, and enterprises. Additionally, AI-related companies shall be bolstered to settle in Hainan for agglomeration.

(14) Expansion and quality improvement scenarios for internet hospitals. Internet hospitals shall be comprehensively established across public hospitals in the province. Support shall be provided for internet hospitals to be the first to apply innovative transformation results from medical institutions and healthcare professionals, with fees charged as stipulated. Digital health innovation entities shall be encouraged to leverage internet hospitals to provide a full cycle of digital health services, including consultation, rehabilitation and treatment, continuously expanding the connotation and range of internet healthcare.

(15) Medical health data factors and development scenarios. A people-centered life and health data platform shall be established to collect health data throughout the patient's entire lifecycle on all fronts. Leveraging Hainan's advantages in digital therapeutics and standardization of wearable device data, multidimensional data on exercise, nutrition and mental health shall be aggregated to provide better medical health data outside hospitals. The governance, analysis and sharing of data generated from clinical research to health service interventions shall be encouraged, supporting the iterative innovation of digital health services and health insurance products.

ii. Digital health industry cluster development action.

1. Building a series of key segmented industry clusters for digital health. Focusing on areas such as cognitive impairment in the elderly, autistic disorders, pediatric eyesight and chronic disease treatment, advantageous industry clusters shall be built to drive the aggregation of upstream and downstream enterprises in sectors like wearable and rehabilitation equipment as well as chip design, fostering the emergence of five to eight distinctive digital health industry clusters. Support shall be provided for key industrial parks such as Resort Software Community in Chengmai, Hope City in Bo’ao, and the Medicine Valley and Fullsing Internet Industrial Park both in Haikou, establishing collaborative platforms for industry chain integration and exchange.

2. Establishing an innovative alliance for digital health industry-academia-research-application technologies. A digital health industry-academia-research-application innovation alliance shall be established in accordance with laws and regulations, guiding enterprises to collaborate with higher education institutes and medical institutions. Support shall be provided for enterprises to jointly tackle key core technologies and common technologies that play a significantly leading role in digital health, undertaking major national innovation projects. The guiding role of platforms such as the provincial clinical medicine research center and provincial clinical medicine center shall be fully utilized to coordinate the integrated development of talent, projects and platforms, promoting in-depth integration of industry, academia, research and application.

3. Implementing actions to upgrade investment attraction. Emphasis shall be placed on key areas of digital health to prioritize investment attraction and resource allocation in link building, reinforcing and shoring up weak links. Efforts shall be made to comprehensively streamline and track new digital health technologies and enterprise development dynamics and strengthen communication and cooperation between advanced foreign enterprises engaged in medical devices and biomedicine. There shall be precision investment attraction to accelerate the introduction of high-tech and high-end projects with significant added value and promising market prospects.

4. Carrying out standardized foundation action. The brand standards framework for the digital health industry shall be improved by establishing a standard system that includes basic standards, technical standards and application standards. Centering around diseases such as cognitive impairment in the elderly and autistic disorders, as well as scenarios involving AI-driven health education and consultation, actions shall be taken to further refine product standards, service specifications and effectiveness evaluations, thereby continuously enhancing the standardization and normalization of industry development. Additionally, the protection of intellectual property rights for digital health products shall be strengthened.

iii. Digital health technology support action.

1. Accelerating the construction of digital health new infrastructure. The overall layout of digital new infrastructure across the province shall be integrated to explore the establishment of a provincial health "cloud", which consolidates online and offline resources from medical enterprises, enhancing the convenience of Hainan's healthcare services. The construction of imaging clouds and dedicated health clouds in provincial medical institutions shall be expedited, forming a digital health cloud resource and disaster recovery center.

2. Establishing an open platform for data factors regarding healthcare. A "Healthcare Big Data Engineering Center" shall be built to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and research transformation. An integrated open platform for data factors regarding healthcare shall be built based on the Hainan Data Supermarket, to explore mutual recognition, sharing and application of data factors in the health sector. Furthermore, a "one-account" system shall be progressively formed based on digital identities, encompassing personal health digital asset accounts, physician digital asset accounts and institution digital asset accounts, which clarifies ownership and unlocks data value in an orderly manner.

3. Public service platform for the digital health industry. Platforms shall be established for the open application of health and medicine data, digital clinical studies, and innovation transformation. Supporters such as digital therapeutics super factories shall be solidified to promote decentralized clinical studies in intelligent clinical research and create a foundational platform to support new quality productive forces for digital health. The layout of the digital health concept proof center shall be accelerated, serving as a crucial bridge for the technology transition from the laboratory to the pilot. Concept proof, including technology assessment, feasibility analysis, small-scale trial production, and commercial evaluation, shall be provided to advance the development of digital health services in an efficient, economical and inclusive manner.

iv. Innovative support system for digital health policies.

1. Open, inclusive and innovative policy support for data factors regarding healthcare. Enterprises or digital economy industrial parks with the capability to serve data factors regarding healthcare shall be authorized to develop and govern the healthcare big data industry as well as cultivate the industry within specific scenarios, in compliance with laws and regulations. There shall be new policies supporting digital health enterprises in going global. An international credit list for the digital health industry in the Hainan Free Trade Port shall also be set up to encourage enterprises to explore overseas markets.

2. Establishment of a robust assurance system for the flow and security of healthcare data. The classified and tiered management of data in the healthcare sector shall be strengthened. A service system for data factors regarding healthcare, along with a security assurance system, shall be constructed in conjunction with innovative application scenarios. Efforts shall be made to explore the establishment of policy procedures and service platforms for data property rights confirmation and pricing, authorized circulation, asset inclusion in accounting statements, development and production, and supervision and management. Supporting measures shall include data privacy computing, security auditing, traceability of circulation, monitoring and early warning, and data anonymization and encryption, forming a technical assurance system that spans the entire lifecycle of data access, authorization, development, circulation, use, and destruction.

3. Policy support for the high-quality development of the digital health service industry. Actions shall be taken to further strengthen the policy support for the research and development, production, application and payment of digital health technology products, and incorporate these into the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries in Hainan Free Trade Port. Eligible internet hospitals shall be awarded the title as a digital therapeutics treatment center, and those established in conjunction with physical medical institutions shall be allowed to apply for designated health insurance provider status. Support shall be provided for internet hospitals to utilize local and inter-provincial health insurance accounts for payment settlements. Additionally, a fee schedule shall be developed for digital services such as digital therapeutics and online consultations, exploring payments via social pooling.

4. Fiscal and financial support policies. Efforts shall be made to actively explore collaborative and innovative procurement in provincial information-based projects and cultivate regional digital health enterprises. Eligible companies shall be inspired to apply for recognition as provincial-level technology innovation centers and other public technology service platforms, receiving rewards and subsidies in accordance with relevant fiscal policies. Support shall also be provided, in accordance with laws and regulations, for competitive enterprises to jointly establish special incubation funds for innovation centers in the province, facilitating the establishment of competitive enterprise ecosystems within Hainan.

III. Organizational Support

i. Strengthening organizational leadership.

A provincial digital health coordination and promotion mechanism shall be established, involving the participation of departments engaged in development and reform, finance, industry and information technology, health, big data, market regulation, healthcare security and medical products supervision. Lead departments for various tasks shall be designated, and an annual work plan shall be formulated to ensure timely coordination and advancement of tasks. Material issues need to be reported to the provincial government in a timely manner.

ii. Enhancing monitoring and assessment.

The statistical classification system for the digital health industry shall be refined, leading the nation in creating a complete statistical framework for the digital health economy. Strengthened supervision and appraisal shall be in place to incorporate digital health development indicators from relevant departments, municipalities and counties into the appraisal of the target responsibility system. Leveraging third-party assessment institutions, annual monitoring and evaluation shall be carried out for planning implementation.

iii. Improving the regulatory system.

With adherence to the principles of inclusion and prudence, efforts shall be made to actively explore a regulatory method that caters to the development of new technologies, products, business patterns and models. In addition, policies and regulations applicable to digital health development shall be refined to achieve robust laws, regulations, policies and standards for digital health in the Free Trade Port.

Attachment: Division of Tasks