Health Information Technology in China
Huihui Chen
Instructor: Professor Brian Malec
HSCI 415
California State University Northridge

Abstract
Along with Economic Reform, a series of changes occurred in the early 1980s in the Chinese healthcare system. The government goal was enable every citizen in China access basic health care services and treatments, and consequently made great efforts to innovate the policy and regulation of China’s medical system. Health Information Technology was an important part in the medical reform plan, and began to develop in the mid-1990s with the financial management system because healthcare was provided by fee-for-service in hospitals. After five years the technology was applied to the clinical system. Beyond all doubt, China made huge progress in such a short period. However, China’s HIT still faces huge challenges and problems because of the weak software application and lack of professional technical assistance. The health application software in China fell behind other countries. And most of them only upgraded after several years and therefore lacked practicability. Moreover, even now China is chronically short of experts in the HIT area. Admittedly, the development of HIT application has only just started in China’s hospital. Therefore, HIT experts lack experience in managing the whole information system. In this paper, we discuss the importance of Health Information Technology in China, its adoption and the government policy. Furthermore, the future direction will be explored through the current IT situation as it exists in healthcare system. China is the most rapidly developing economy in the world. However, its healthcare system has fallen behind. Developing HIT is essential in creating an effective healthcare system.

Health Information Technology in China
The Chinese medical system faces a series of critical issues – unaffordable hospitalization costs, unbalanced regional development, medical safety and low insurance coverage rate. Medical dispute happen frequently due to institutional deficiencies. The number of “grave incidents” has gro...

-115 -349 -466 -92 1 109 124 14 15 16 1980s 1990s 1999 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2013 3 344 415 448 5 55 6 75 80 82 abstract academ access accord account accredit achiev acknowledg acquir address administr admit adopt advanc advisori ahmadi al allevi alloc almost along also although america american analysis.international angel anoth anxieti appli applic april area assist associ attent averag avoid awar b base basic bate becom began begin behind beij better beyond biggest billion biomed book brian brief build california cannot capac care career case central challeng chang chen china chines choos chronic cite citi citizen clinic collabor colleg come commiss communic communiti compar compon comprehens comput computer concern conclud confus consequ consid consider construct contribut cost countri cours coverag cpoe creat crisi critic current d databas decis defici depart detail deterior develop devot diagnosi die differ difficulti direct discuss diseas dispar dispens display disput doctor dollar doubt dramat drug due duti e e-health earli earth econom economi ed educ effect effici effort ehr electr electron element emphas employ enabl encount encourag enhanc enough enter enterpris entri environ equip error essenti establish et even ever everi everyth evolv excess exist expens experi experienc expert explor face facil fact factor fall fallen fee fee-for-servic fell file financi first five focus foreign found frequent fulli furthermor futur general give goal good govern grace grave great group grown guangzhou guo h happen hardship harm heal health healthcar heath helm higher hippocrat hit hope hospit howev hsci hu huge huihui hundr imia immens impact implement import improv inadequaci incid includ increas industri inform informat infrastructur initi injustic innov institut instructor insur integr intern issu j joint journal k keep key knowledg lab lack land latest learn less level li long long-term lot low lower loyal luo m made main maintain major make malec manag may mean medic meet mid mid-1990s million moor moreov much must need network never new nonetheless northridg nowaday number nurs oath obey obtain occupi occur offici order organ outcom overview pace panel paper parent part past patient peopl perfect period personnel phenomenon physician place plan platform play polici popul popular possibl potenti practic prefer primari principl problem process profession professor program progress project promis prospect provid public qualifi qualiti r rang rapid rate rcms realiz reason recent record reduc refer reform regard region regul releas remain ren request requir rescu research resourc respons role run rural safeti salari satisfi save secur seri serious servic sever shanghai share sharpli short shortag shoulder silo singl single-comput single-us situat skill slow slowli social societi softwar solut solv soon south special specialti speed start state status steadili step still student studi success suffer sun support swot symptom system talent technic technolog telemedicin term therapi therefor three toler top train treatment trend trust twenti unafford unbalanc underappreci unfamiliar unit univers upgrad urban urban-rur use user vendor w weak white whole wide within without word work world worldwid would wound xue y year yearbook yu z zhang zhao