Henan Zhoukou: Digital Empowerment Makes Healthcare Services More Efficient

Deep News
Dec 31, 2025

"In the past, a myocardial infarction emergency rescue could take nearly 20 minutes of waiting; now, with one click from the village clinic, a patient can be in an ambulance within 5 minutes. Even before reaching the hospital, guidance from specialists is already synchronized and in place!" Recently, Duan Peng, a village doctor in Duanzhai Village, Baji Township, Dancheng County, Zhoukou City, Henan Province, pointed to the smart terminal on his desk, describing the changes digital technology has brought to rural healthcare. As a major agricultural city with a population exceeding ten million, Zhoukou City has taken "Three-Medical Linkage + Digital Governance" as its focus, using digitalization to solve long-standing grassroots challenges such as uneven distribution of medical resources and low service efficiency, providing replicable and scalable practical experience for deepening medical reform in the new era. Previously, rural residents often faced a triple dilemma when seeking medical care: "village doctors lack skills, township facilities lack equipment, and county-level institutions lack specialists," with the "fragmentation" of medical resources being a prominent issue. Zhoukou City innovatively implemented a "city-wide unified construction, county-level对接,全域 application" model, with municipal finances统筹 investing 160 million yuan to build a全民 health information platform. This platform enables the interconnection of information and efficient data flow across medical institutions at the city, county, township, and village levels. The platform is strongly supported by core databases including a complete population database, an electronic medical record database, and a health档案 database. This platform aggregates the basic information of 11.05 million people in the city, has integrated over 530 million pieces of medical business data, and established more than 8 million electronic health records, forming health data that covers the entire population and spans the full lifecycle. By letting data do the running instead of the people, Zhoukou City has achieved remarkable results in全域 medical integration. Recently, Guo Jianguang, a resident of Xihua County, Zhoukou, was unable to stand due to back pain. When he visited the township health center, the doctor was uncertain about the diagnosis. Through the全民 health information platform, his examination results were synchronized in real-time to Xihua County People's Hospital and Zhoukou Central Hospital, where experts from the county and city levels conducted an online joint consultation and quickly formulated a detailed treatment plan. "I didn't have to travel back and forth; I received诊疗 services from city-level experts right at my doorstep. It's incredibly convenient!" Guo Jianguang said. Currently, all secondary and above hospitals, township health centers, and community health service centers in Zhoukou City have been connected to the unified information network. Remote consultations and mutual recognition of examination and test results have achieved全域 coverage, truly下沉 high-quality medical resources to the grassroots level. Relying on the全民 health information platform, Zhoukou City has broken down the data barriers between medical care, medical insurance, and medicine—the "Three Medicals"—building an integrated system of "data interoperability + intelligent supervision + precise services." This makes medical services more efficient and reduces the burden of medical expenses for the public. On December 16, Lu Jinxin, a villager from Qianshai Administrative Village, Beicheng Street, Shenqiu County, Zhoukou, went to the village clinic for medicine for a cold. The system automatically matched him with centrally procured drugs; for ibuprofen priced at 15 yuan at the pharmacy, after real-time medical insurance settlement, he only paid 2.8 yuan out of pocket. "Drug prices are lower, and reimbursement is more convenient. It's more affordable and less worrisome for us ordinary folks to see a doctor," Lu Jinxin said. To enhance grassroots diagnostic capabilities, Zhoukou City has comprehensively deployed an artificial intelligence-assisted Western medicine diagnosis system across all grassroots medical institutions. Duan Peng once used this system to successfully identify a stroke patient, enabling a timely referral and treatment, which won precious treatment time for the patient. "With this intelligent assistant, our diagnoses as grassroots doctors are more accurate and confident, allowing us to better safeguard the health of our fellow villagers," Duan Peng stated. The efficient operation of this system benefits precisely from the massive data support and technological empowerment of the全民 health information platform, enabling grassroots doctors to "diagnose accurately and dare to treat." "Opening the 'Healthy Zhoukou' mini-program, you can handle appointment registration, payment, and report checking with one click. Now, my time spent in the outpatient department has been shortened by more than an hour compared to before; there's no need to wait in long queues anymore," shared Liu Zhi, a citizen visiting Zhoukou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital on December 15, describing the convenient experience brought by smart healthcare. Today in Zhoukou, digital technology is profoundly reshaping the healthcare landscape: a four-level emergency network makes lifelines smoother, the Three-Medical linkage lightens the burden of medical care, and smart services make health protection more considerate. As one of the first batch of demonstration cities for public hospital reform and high-quality development, Zhoukou City uses the全民 health information platform as a hub, empowers governance efficiency through digitalization,破解 deep-seated issues in medical reform through coordination, and wins genuine public recognition through普惠, exploring a medical reform path suited to the reality of a major agricultural city with a population of ten million. Zhang Lei, Deputy Director of the Zhoukou Municipal Health Commission, stated that on the journey of building a Healthy China, Zhoukou will use the全民 health information platform as a hub to strengthen data aggregation, governance, sharing, and mutual recognition. It will deepen the application of AI in clinical, public health, and management scenarios, build a digital closed loop for "integrating medical care and prevention," support scientific decision-making and precise services, and contribute more replicable and scalable "Zhoukou Experience" to the national medical reform effort.

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

Most Discussed

  1. 1
     
     
     
     
  2. 2
     
     
     
     
  3. 3
     
     
     
     
  4. 4
     
     
     
     
  5. 5
     
     
     
     
  6. 6
     
     
     
     
  7. 7
     
     
     
     
  8. 8
     
     
     
     
  9. 9
     
     
     
     
  10. 10