Policy Recommendations

China can learn from experiences in industrialized countries. This suggests that, for the development of telehealth in China, it is necessary to do the following:

• Strengthen the leadership of government in telehealth development. The government should establish a special organization to lead telehealth development and promote a government focus on telehealth.
• Strengthen the supervision of telehealth development. In China, many different organizations are involved in telehealth activities. Many of these organizations are not health related. It is important to strengthen the supervision of telehealth and prevent unqualified organizations from taking part in telehealth.
• Promote the development of telehealth standards. Health authorities should promote the development of telehealth standards with users, researchers, technical and scientific bodies, and industry. Establishing national standards and adopting international standards will be important tasks for China.
• Develop a legal and regulatory infrastructure that will facilitate telehealth. Legislation related to telemedicine, electronic signatures and patient health information protection should be constituted.
• Increase the investment in telehealth. The government should strengthen its financial support for telehealth development. Also, other sources must be attracted to invest in telehealth. In China, there is a high demand for telehealth services, especially for remote medical education services. Many early distance medical education programmes are still in operation today.
• Train health professionals and technical staff in telehealth. Training will help health professionals to understand telehealth, and will also promote the efficiency of telehealth systems.
• Promote international collaboration, sharing and learning experiences from industrialized countries. This will help China to develop telehealth. Telehealth is relatively new to China. It can overcome geographical barriers and make high-quality services available without regard to location. This can help to reduce the unbalanced distribution of health resources. Because telecommunications are developing rapidly in China, there are many opportunities to develop telehealth. There are also many challenges for telehealth to overcome. If the importance of telehealth for China is widely recognized, it will have a better future in China.

Telehealth is relatively new to China. It can overcome geographical barriers and make high-quality services available without regard to location. This can help to reduce the unbalanced distribution of health resources. Because telecommunications are developing rapidly in China, there are many opportunities to develop telehealth. There are also many challenges for telehealth to overcome. If the importance of telehealth for China is widely recognized, it will have a better future in China.