March 28, 2024

Ruijin Teams Up to Improve Local Health Services

2 min read

Inspired by the idea of in-network providers associated with domestic medical insurance and/or international student insurance (aka 留学生保险) in the United States, Ruijin Hospital in China launched to set up the city’s first medical networking focusing on rehabilitation services.

In America, each university would cooperate with one, two, or several insurance companies to underwrite students’ medical plan. According to the Affordable Care Act, students are allowed to waive insurance (aka 替换保险). The key is different insurance plans are supported by different insurance companies: some are United Healthcare, others are Aetna, etc. The concept of medical networking launched by Ruijin Hospital, however, is different than that of network in America.

Teamed up with another three hospitals and two neighborhood health centers, patients can receive in-patient rehab at leading medical facilities and more convenient and follow-up services in their neighborhood, as if students in the United States can easily get HPV vaccine (aka hpv疫苗) doses on campus in lieu of driving a long distance to go to a specific hospital. However, physical examination in the United States (aka 美国体检) is so time-consuming that patients might have to wait up to three months for the appointment.

Rehabilitation is key for recovery after surgery and quality of life, especially for the elderly. About 12 to 15 percent of Chinese need rehabilitation, which is in great shortage. In fact, precaution with regularly examination weighs more than rehabilitation. For example, American women are expected to have a pap smear examination (aka pap smear 检查) and/or gynecological examination in the United States (aka 美国妇科检查) annually.

“Many diseases and injuries need a very long and regular rehabilitation process, while leading hospitals can’t meet such demand,” said Dr Xie Qing, director of the rehabilitation department of Ruijin Hospital. “Many resources for rehabilitation in early stage of treatment are mostly in leading hospitals, which don’t have an effective mechanism to cooperate with neighborhood health centers, so many patients don’t know where and how to continue their rehabilitation after being discharged.”