The State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine ("SATCM") has recently issued the Guiding Opinions on Integrating the Development of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Services and the Internet (the "Opinions").
The Opinions state that new ways to realize the integrated development will be extensively applied by the year 2020, with growing service diversity and almost every single individual's entitlement to TCM services; and the TCM health service mode, guided by TCM theories, based on the internet and absorbing modern philosophy of health management, will come into being and develop itself at a faster speed by the year 2030. To this end, the Opinions roll out major tasks in six respects, including "developing internet-based TCM health preservation and healthcare services", "advancing the information construction of TCM healthcare for the elderly" and "promoting the exchange of information on TCM services and trade", and another five safeguards, such as "stepping up efforts to establish the TCM data center". Furthermore, the Opinions expressly state that it is encouraged to use internet technologies to realize the online booking for diagnosis and treatment, and, with the help of the mobile internet and the internet of things, offer convenient services in respect of prescription pricing, payment, report access, health consultation, drug delivery and follow-up visits.