With the rapid development of the global medical tourism market (according to the Global Medical Tourism Association, the size of the global medical tourism market will exceed 100 billion dollars in 2023, and China has become an important destination in the Asia-Pacific region), the demand for China's high-quality medical resources from international patients continues to grow. Against this backdrop, international patient transportation service, as a key supporting link in medical tourism, has a direct impact on the patient's medical experience and life and health in terms of its efficiency and safety. China is promoting the extension of medical tourism from “treatment service” to “full-cycle medical protection” by improving the emergency rescue system.
I、Core Value and Demand Scenarios of International Patient Transportation Services
International patient transfer service refers to the provision of full-process medical escort services for cross-border patients from the place of departure to medical institutions in China, or cross-regional transfer during treatment in China, covering pre-hospital emergency care, air/land transfer, en route monitoring, multi-agency connection, etc. The core value lies in the following. Its core value lies in:
- Saving lives: shortening transit time and reducing mortality rates for patients with acute and critical conditions (e.g. cardiovascular and cerebrovascular accidents, post-transplant complications).
- Ensure continuity of medical care: Ensure that patients receive professional medical supervision during transportation to avoid deterioration of their conditions.
- Enhance the trust of medical tourism: a perfect transportation system is an important consideration for international patients to choose China.
Typical demand scenarios include:
- Patients entering China for the first time for medical treatment (e.g. Southeast Asian patients going to China for tumor treatment); and
- Transfer to a higher level hospital during treatment in China (e.g. from a local hospital to a specialized center in Beijing or Shanghai); and
- Rescue of foreign patients during public health emergencies or natural disasters (e.g. medical transportation of overseas Chinese during epidemics).
II、Components of China's medical tourism emergency rescue system
China is building an emergency rescue system covering the whole chain of “prevention-transportation-treatment-recovery” through the model of “policy guidance + market leadership + technology empowerment”, and the core elements include:
1. Transit network and infrastructure
- Air medical transportation network: Relying on the advantages of international routes of major domestic international airports (e.g., Beijing Capital, Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou Baiyun), and in conjunction with professional medical airlines (e.g., AVIC's Air Medical Rescue Platform), we have set up transportation routes covering Asia-Pacific, and extending to key regions in Europe and the United States. Some tertiary hospitals (e.g. Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Shanghai Ruijin Hospital) have been equipped with dedicated medical aprons, realizing the seamless connection of “air emergency and ground connection”.
- Land transit system: cross-border land transit channels have been established in border areas (e.g. Yunnan, Guangxi, Xinjiang), and “green channels” have been opened in cooperation with neighboring countries (e.g. Vietnam, Laos, Kazakhstan), equipped with ambulances, mobile ICUs and other equipment, to meet the demand for short-distance transit in Southeast Asia.
2. Multi-major coordination mechanism
- Government coordination: The National Health Commission, in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Administration of Customs and the Civil Aviation Administration, has issued the “Guiding Opinions on Strengthening International Transshipment Services for Medical Tourism”, which clarifies the approval process for cross-border transshipment, customs clearance (e.g., simplifying the procedures for entering the country for medicines/medical devices), and policies on rapid inspection and release at the border checkpoints.
- Linkage of medical institutions: establish a three-tier linkage mechanism between national medical centers, regional medical centers and local hospitals, share patient information (e.g., electronic medical records, image data) through the medical consortium platform, and ensure that receiving hospitals prepare beds, equipment and medical teams in advance.
- Insurance and payment support: promoting commercial medical insurance to cover international transfer costs, piloting the “medical insurance + commercial insurance” interface model (e.g., some high-end medical insurance products include cross-border transfer responsibilities); encouraging medical institutions to cooperate with international rescue organizations (e.g., SOS International Rescue) to provide customized insurance solutions for patients. Encourage medical institutions to cooperate with international rescue organizations (such as SOS International Rescue) to provide patients with customized insurance solutions.
3. Technical and standard support
- Intelligent transfer platform: develop the “China International Medical Transfer Service Platform”, integrate patient information, transfer resources (ambulances, aircraft, medical personnel), real-time road/air conditions and other data, optimize transfer routes through AI algorithms, and realize visual tracking of the whole process (e.g., through GPS positioning, remote transmission of vital signs), Remote transmission of vital signs).
- Standardized Operation Procedures (SOP): We have formulated the Service Specification for International Patient Transfer, which covers pre-transfer assessment (disease classification, equipment requirements), monitoring during transfer (vital signs monitoring, emergency response), and post-transfer handover (transfer of medical records, continued treatment plan) to ensure controllable service quality.
- Reserve of professional talents: Strengthen the air/land transport training of medical and nursing personnel (such as international emergency care certification ITLS, intensive care transport technology), and cultivate “medical + transport” composite talents; some hospitals have already set up “international transport coordinator” positions, responsible for the whole process of communication. Some hospitals have set up the position of “international transfer coordinator”, who is responsible for the whole communication and resource dispatching.
4. Legal and cultural safeguards
- Legal framework for cross-border medical care: Promote the revision of the Measures for the Management of Medical Quality and Safety and the Measures for the Administration of Approval of Foreigners' Permanent Residence in China to clarify the legitimate rights and interests of foreign patients in China (e.g., informed consent to medical treatment and privacy protection); pilot the “Cross-border Medical Liability Insurance” to reduce the risk of medical institutions' transportation. Pilot “cross-border medical liability insurance” to reduce the risk of transportation for medical institutions.
- Cultural and linguistic services: Provide multilingual medical personnel or interpreters (e.g., English, Arabic, Russian) in the transfer service, and provide religious custom adaptation (e.g., diet, prayer space); popularize the process of China's medical transfer service and safeguard measures for foreign patients through the “Healthy China” international communication platform. (d) Providing adaptation to religious customs (e.g., diet, prayer space); popularizing the process and safeguards of China's medical transportation services to patients abroad through the “Healthy China” international communication platform.
III、Challenges and optimization direction
Although China's emergency medical transportation system for medical tourism has achieved stage-by-stage progress, it still faces the following challenges:
- Cross-border policy differences: some countries have complicated approval processes for medical transfers (e.g., vaccine certificates, restrictions on the entry of medicines), and need to strengthen negotiations on bilateral or multilateral agreements (e.g., signing a memorandum of understanding on the facilitation of medical transfers with ASEAN countries); and
- Cost and accessibility of services: High-end transfer services are expensive (a single air transfer can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars), and insurance coverage or government subsidies are needed to reduce the financial burden on ordinary patients; and
- Mutual Recognition of Technical Standards: Some countries do not have sufficient certification for Chinese medical equipment (e.g., portable ventilators) and first aid technology (e.g., Chinese medicine first aid), so international standards need to be promoted.
Future optimization direction:
- Deepen medical cooperation along the “Belt and Road”, establish cross-border medical transportation alliances with countries along the route, and share resources and information.
- Promote the application of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in transportation (e.g., real-time vital signs monitoring, remote expert consultation) to enhance the safety of transportation.
- Cultivate local medical transport brands (e.g. “Healthy China Transport”) to attract global patients through standardized services and good reputation.
IV、Conclusion
International patient transfer service is the key support for the transformation of China's medical tourism from “scale expansion” to “quality improvement”. By building an emergency rescue system with wide network coverage, high coordination efficiency, intelligent technology and diversified protection, China can not only enhance the sense of security for international patients, but also consolidate its competitiveness in the global medical tourism market, and contribute to the “Healthy China” strategy and the “Healthy Humanity” strategy. China will not only improve the safety of international patients' medical treatment, but also consolidate its competitiveness in the global medical tourism market, injecting new momentum into the “Healthy China” strategy and the construction of a "human health community.