From October 18-22, the Sixth World Internet Conference was held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, attracting nearly 90,000 visitors. As a national model for "Internet Plus Healthcare," Pingdingshan showcased its achievements at the conference, introducing the "Pingdingshan Model" of digital health to the world. During the event, the Pingdingshan Municipal Government signed a cooperation agreement with WeDoctor Group to jointly establish the Pingdingshan Health Consortium.
Pingdingshan Partners with WeDoctor to Build Digital Healthcare Consortium
Located in central Henan Province, Pingdingshan City administers 2 cities, 4 counties, and 4 districts, with a total population of 5.5 million. The city hosts 3,799 healthcare institutions, 30,400 hospital beds, and 31,000 healthcare professionals.
"The greatest weakness in healthcare lies at the grassroots level, and the biggest challenge in building a Healthy China is in rural areas," explained Liu Ying, Vice Mayor of Pingdingshan. She noted that a year before the release of the "Opinions on Promoting the Development of 'Internet Plus Healthcare'," Pingdingshan had already partnered with WeDoctor Group to explore and practice the "Internet Plus Healthy Pingdingshan" initiative.
It is understood that Pingdingshan leverages public hospitals as the primary offline service providers and utilizes tightly integrated county-level medical consortiums as the key mechanism. Through a digital medical platform, it connects medical institutions across four tiers—city, county, township, and village—enabling seamless data interoperability.Additionally, the city has equipped grassroots facilities with smart hardware and software such as cloud-based mobile clinics, cloud-enabled medical kits, mobile devices, and PC workstations. This brings digital health services—including remote consultations, smart family doctor contracts, and remote electrocardiograms—directly to village entrances and residents' doorsteps. It enables citizens to access high-quality medical services without leaving their villages, realizing the concept of "village-based consultations, cloud-based treatment."
To systematize, standardize, and streamline the "Internet+Healthcare" system for operational efficiency and replicability, Pingdingshan City pioneered the development of the Internet+ Healthcare Service Manual. This manual uniformly defines service procedures, standards, and regulations.By the end of 2018, after citywide implementation, the system covered 6 municipal and county-level hospitals, 115 township health centers (community health service centers), and 2,330 village clinics (community health service stations).The city has achieved 3.36 million electronic family doctor contracts, with a 95% signing rate among key populations. Cloud-based mobile clinics have provided cumulative services to 4.94 million people, while remote electrocardiograms have been conducted over 30,000 times and remote consultations over 60,000 times.
Pingdingshan Model Showcases Achievements at Sixth Internet Conference
The State Council Leading Group for Deepening Medical and Health System Reform and the Henan Provincial Party Committee's Comprehensive Deepening Reform Commission released a special briefing highlighting Pingdingshan's innovative "Internet+Healthcare" model and its remarkable outcomes. The report commended the model for refining basic public health services, strengthening primary care capabilities, streamlining medical consortium services, and enhancing targeted health poverty alleviation efforts.
Through digital technology, the "Pingdingshan Model" not only revitalized grassroots healthcare resources and accelerated the implementation of tiered diagnosis and treatment at the primary level, but also activated the "nerve endings" of grassroots healthcare reform.To this end, Pingdingshan partnered with WeDoctor Group to upgrade its "Internet Plus Healthy Pingdingshan" framework. This initiative accelerates the integrated enhancement of service capabilities across municipal, county, township, and village levels while advancing coordinated reforms in healthcare, medical insurance, pharmaceuticals, and medical-care integration.
Liu Ying stated that Pingdingshan will next focus on defining the functional roles of medical institutions and enhancing the service capabilities of primary-level facilities. By horizontally linking healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medical insurance, and medical care with elderly care, and vertically integrating the four tiers, the city aims to build a digital health community. This initiative seeks to elevate overall regional medical standards, improve public health levels, and reduce the growth rate of medical insurance expenditures—ultimately invigorating hospital development, enhancing medical capabilities, ensuring sustainable medical insurance funds, and safeguarding public health.