China’s Path to a Unified National Electronic Medical Record System: Challenges and Opportunities
The recent proposal submitted by 19 members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, including Professor Xu Kewei of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, calls for establishing a unified national electronic medical record (EMR) system in China, highlights the pressing need for change. The current lack of interoperability between hospitals’ medical record systems has led to increased difficulty in obtaining medical care, time wastage, and redundant examinations and prescriptions.
Developing a unified EMR system in China would offer several benefits, including improved patient care, enhanced hospital management, increased physician efficiency, and support for telemedicine, hierarchical diagnosis and treatment, and medical insurance cost control. Although progress has been made at provincial and hospital levels, significant challenges remain.
Key challenges include information silos, the absence of data standards, data security concerns, funding requirements, and conflicting interests. Overcoming these obstacles will require concerted efforts from regulatory authorities, medical institutions, and various stakeholders.
Learning from international experiences, such as the United States’ implementation of the HITECH Act and establishing the Health Information Exchange (HIE) network, China can focus on standardisation and funding to develop its own unified EMR system. By adopting a combination of national legislation, public funding, and payment incentives, China can work towards achieving greater data interoperability and secure data sharing across medical institutions.
Establishing a unified national EMR system is crucial for patient-centered public healthcare in China. To realize this goal, overcoming data and interest barriers and achieving interconnectivity is essential. This will necessitate the long-term commitment and cooperation of regulatory authorities and various societal stakeholders. By addressing these challenges head-on and learning from international experiences, China can pave the way for a more efficient and patient-centred healthcare system.
