China Smart Healthcare Industry Whitepaper

As intelligent technologies are rapidly advancing and being deployed at scale, smart healthcare is gaining momentum. As an upgrade to traditional healthcare informatization, China life sciences and health care industry integrates new generation information technologies such as 5G, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, driving a paradigm shift toward intelligent systems.

Deloitte's "China Smart Healthcare Industry Whitepaper" comprehensively reviews and analyses the diversified application scenarios of smart healthcare in China, summarizes challenges faced by smart healthcare industry in perspective of policies, regulations, pricing and payment. It pointed out that ensuring the security and standardized management of patient data, meeting patients’ personalized needs and building a diversified payment system are key to achieving long-term sustainable development for smart healthcare.

Background of the Smart Healthcare Industry

• Policy as the core driving force of smart healthcare

Based on government policies introduced during various periods, the development of smart healthcare in China can be divided into three phases, from in-hospital management informatization to healthcare data informatization, and now to smart healthcare. Currently, led by government, the enterprises, hospitals, and research institutions in various provinces and cities collaborate based on their respective strengths, to promote the development for smart healthcare, among which the Yangtze River Delta region has seen faster development.

• The rapid advancement of corporate compliance requirements in smart healthcare, pharmaceutical and medical device enterprises must urgently build or upgrade comprehensive compliance management systems.
• Fundraising enthusiasm in the smart healthcare remains high, with a shifting appetite to projects that demonstrate long-term commercialization capabilities

From 2019 to 2021, smart healthcare investment and financing grew by multiples, but the pace of fundraising events has slowed since 2022 due to macroeconomic headwinds. Smart healthcare has entered a new phase that emphasizes project quality and commercial viability. Sustainability is becoming a priority.

• Personalized and intelligent new healthcare demands accelerate the rapid iterative development of smart healthcare
• Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and 5G continue to expand the boundaries of smart healthcare services

Diversified application scenarios of smart healthcare

With the strengthened development of the smart healthcare ecosystem, a variety of ecosystem players have emerged and developed differentiated business models and service types. Moreover, many emerging tech companies specialized in smart healthcare are also popping up. 

Moreover, the diversified development of smart healthcare also promoted the further deepening of the innovation value chain and the deepening of regional medical intelligence. At the same time, greater emphasis on the construction of smart hospitals will continue to increase, and smart healthcare at home has entered a period of rapid development.

Challenges in the Smart Healthcare Industry

The development of smart healthcare has achieved significant progress but still faces numerous challenges:

• Obstacles to interconnectivity within and between hospitals
• Limited adaptability of medical staff and patients to smart healthcare
• Policies and regulations for smart healthcare need to be further improved
• Smart healthcare services face pricing and payment challenges

Outlook and suggestions

• Establish unified standards and task forces within hospitals; government-led data standardization across medical institutions
• Patient education via multiple channels and personalized solutions; strengthen external collaboration for smart technology adoption
• Strengthen data security barriers and clarify legal and technical standards
• Design reasonable, granular pricing strategies; build a diversified payment system and novel payment mechanisms