Policy support, online consultation, convenient medical treatment, Internet medical services to welcome multiple benefits
Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, medical resources in some places have become tight. The Internet medical industry has built bridges for patients and doctors through the "airline cable". Ping An Good Doctor, Dr. Lilac, Ali Health, JD Health and other "Internet + Medical" platforms have launched services such as consultation and consultation, free consultation, and online drug purchase, which have solved the needs of some patients for medical treatment by rationally allocating medical resources, bringing patients Convenience. In response to this phenomenon, the state has issued a number of policies to promote the development of Internet medical care.
Online consultation to help fight the "epidemic"
After the epidemic broke out, medical resources in Wuhan and other places in Hubei were tight, and patients' needs for consultations on respiratory diseases increased. Many Internet medical platforms have opened online free consultations in a timely manner.
Since the outbreak, Ping An Good Doctor has visited 1.1 billion times in total. The number of new user registrations has increased by 10 times compared with before the outbreak, and the average daily consultation has increased by 9 times compared with before the outbreak. Dr. Chunyu, Penguin Almond Group, Weiyi Internet General Hospital and other Internet medical platforms have seen a surge in user enquiries.
On January 24th, Ali Health targeted the residents of Hubei Province and launched a free Internet doctor free consultation service on the Alipay client. Of the hundreds of freelance doctors from across the country, more than 70% are from the respiratory and general practice.
Online consultation has become an important form of patients' access to medical services during epidemic prevention, and has been supported by national policies.
On February 3, the “Notice on Strengthening Informationization to Support the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia of New Coronavirus Infections” of the General Office of the National Health and Medical Commission proposed that medical organizations at all levels be actively engaged in online obligations for new coronary pneumonia with the “Internet +” Consulting, home medical observation and guidance services. In the statistics of the 24-hour Ali Health Free Clinic Service, more than 90% of the problems are mainly related to the prevention and treatment of new coronary pneumonia.
In addition to medical consultation services for new coronary pneumonia, the above notice also encourages the online implementation of some common diseases, chronic diseases review and drug delivery services to reduce the risk of cross-infection of offline consultations for other patients.
Can be reimbursed online
During the epidemic prevention period, Internet medical treatment played a significant role in the diagnosis and treatment of common and chronic diseases, and it was also a supplement to hierarchical diagnosis and treatment. However, the payment of medicines and medical insurance after online consultation has always been a problem that plagued the development of the Internet medical industry.
On March 2, the National Medical Insurance Bureau and the National Health and Health Commission jointly issued the "Guidelines on Promoting the Implementation of" Internet + "Medical Insurance Services During the Prevention and Control of the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic Situation", clarifying that patients with common diseases and chronic diseases may return to the Internet medical institutions in accordance with regulations Reimbursement for health insurance. Internet medical institutions issue electronic prescriptions online for insured persons, and adopt a variety of ways to flexibly dispense drugs offline, and insured persons can enjoy medical insurance payment treatment. The medical insurance department strengthens cooperation with Internet medical institutions, etc. The medical insurance burden of diagnosis and treatment and medicine costs is settled directly online. The insured person only needs to bear the out-of-pocket expenses as if he bought the card in a physical hospital.
Fujian Province launched a pilot medical insurance electronic voucher online medical settlement service at the provincial level Internet hospital, allowing the masses to enjoy online medical treatment services that can be reimbursed without leaving home. Shanxi Province has proposed that qualified pharmacies can “point-to-point” deliver medicines to patients based on prescription information from medical institutions. Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Wuhan and other places have included online review of common diseases and chronic diseases and online drug purchases into medical insurance, and actively promoted Internet diagnosis and treatment, long prescriptions, and online store delivery.
The "Guidelines on Promoting the Development of" Internet + "Medical Insurance Services During the Prevention and Control of New Coronary Pneumonia Outbreaks" also proposes that designated medical institutions should establish and properly maintain information such as electronic medical records, online electronic prescriptions, and drug purchase records for patients, The whole process of prescription, transaction, and distribution can be traced, and information flow, capital flow, and logistics can be monitored. Patients can inquire about medical records such as inspection results, diagnosis and treatment plans, prescriptions, and medical orders.
High technology injects new momentum
Internet technology enables medical services not only to conduct online consultation, online settlement, etc., to form a unified and efficient medical insurance information system across the country, but also to the benefit of Internet medical information technology service providers.
On March 5, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Medical Security System", which put forward a high starting point to promote standardization and information construction. Unify medical security business standards and technical standards, establish a nationwide unified, efficient, compatible, convenient, and secure medical security information system, achieve national medical security information interconnectivity, and strengthen the orderly sharing of data. Standardize data management and application permissions, and protect the basic information and data security of insured personnel in accordance with the law. Strengthen the development of big data, highlight application orientation, strengthen service support functions, and promote equal access to medical security public services.
In this epidemic prevention and control, there is still room for further improvement in terms of data interconnection and interoperability between public health platforms and medical institutions. In the future, the construction of national medical security information systems, the construction of public health service networks, and the construction of effective and efficient medical insurance payment mechanisms will all be inseparable from the support of advanced information technology and big data.
With the gradual arrival of the 5G era, the development of artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, and mobile medical technology has provided technical support for Internet healthcare. At the same time, related policies during the epidemic prevention period also clearly indicate the development direction of Internet medical care in the future. How to make good use of the current encouragement policy to transform and train users accumulated during the epidemic prevention period into long-term users is an issue that the Internet medical industry needs to continue to think about.
Zhang Pengyu
Zhang Pengyu