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China's latest public hospital reform pilots in Jiangsu Province are increasingly embedding AI into primary care triage, diagnostic support, population health management, and referral tracking as part of the country’s broader effort to modernise its healthcare system.
Jiangsu has been developing digital platforms that enable wider access to public healthcare services, underpinned by public cloud, AI, and big data.
In Suzhou, one of the demonstration cities in the province, an "AI Personal Health Assistant" on the Suzhou City Life Services mobile application SuZhouDao is being developed. The AI feature can analyse a person's annual physical examination reports and medical records, and personalise their health profile.
The city has also piloted "AI general practitioners," an AI that assists with pre-consultations, diagnosis, and case and prescription reviews. Piloted in the Zhangjiagang county, it has helped serve more than 5 million people and "greatly improved" primary care doctors' diagnostic capabilities and accuracy, according to Suzhou city vice mayor Ji Jing.
In Binhai County, meanwhile, a closed-loop referral management system also leverages AI to provide personalised health analysis reports.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
The pilots are part of the National Health Commission's (NHC) ongoing public hospital reform program, which designates Jiangsu as a key demonstration province for testing governance, service, and digital health innovations.
Jiangsu Provincial Health Commission director Tan Ying shared that the province is actively promoting the application of AI big data models in medical institutions and the wide uptake of AI-assisted diagnosis and treatment systems in primary healthcare institutions.
A provincial health cloud platform has also been set up. Jiangsu is also building several digital platforms for real-time accessing and sharing of imaging and diagnostic reports, remote consultation, ECG monitoring, and referral centres.
Moreover, the province has set up 256 internet hospital services to date across tertiary hospitals, which reportedly increased their capacity to serve patients by 52% year on year.
Other city and county-level pilots across the province are also advancing digital health initiatives intended to support integrated care, standardised services, and more consistent clinical pathways.
- Suzhou: unified digital health records, a public hospital governance and management platform, and a citywide health services collaboration platform
- Yangzhou: an intelligent supervision platform for medical behaviour, cross-institution "carry-your-records" services, and the continued expansion of internet hospitals
- Nanjing: a five-tier remote consultation network linking provincial, city, county, township and village facilities, and a smart platform for standardising clinical pathways across member institutions
- Binhai County: a digital medical network that links 15 township health centres and 310 village clinics to shared diagnostic services and more consistent care standards
NHC's public hospital reform program follows the model set by Sanming city in Fujian Province in 2012. It emphasises the integration of public health settings, a prepaid insurance fund for the integrated group, and a shift of focus from treatment to overall health.
