Cross-provincial settlement makes patients' healthcare convenient

China has offered a simplified, smart and more convenient service for people's cross-provincial settlement of medical expenses, senior officials said.

Li Tao, deputy director of the National Healthcare Security Administration, said at a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office on Friday that the campaign－launched in 2016－has made great progress in the past few years, with more new technologies applied to facilitate the settlement of medical expenses.

She said about 52,900 designated hospitals and institutes nationwide offer the services to inpatients, and over 10 million people have managed to settle their medical expenses.

She said that the cross-provincial settlement has also expanded from hospitalization to outpatient services since earlier this year.

"Now about 120,000 designated hospitals across the nation offer the services for their outpatients," she said.

To improve healthcare for people suffering from chronic illness and critical diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, the administration has offered cross-provincial settlement for them since September, Li said.

"We've made continuous efforts to push forward construction of the system and financial supervision over the cross-provincial settlement campaign to make sure more people get access to convenient and efficient medical services," she said.

Also, the administration has developed more smart ways by building up online settlement platforms to improve patients' experiences in settling their medical expenses.

Wang Wenjun, director of the administration's planning, finance and regulation department, said at the news conference that the administration has developed its own mobile application, WeChat mini program and online platforms.

"So far, the mobile application has about 170 million registered users," Wang said.

She added that the administration also hands out e-codes to people covered by the nation's medical insurance.

"Over 970 million people have activated their e-codes and more than 340,000 designated hospitals and 370,000 pharmacies have approved the use of e-codes so far," she said.

Li Tao, the administration's deputy director, said that stricter supervision over the medical fund will be implemented.

"We've cooperated with the Ministry of Public Security to crack down on any illegal behaviors to swindle the medical fund through cross-provincial settlement. We endeavor to make the settlement more professional, convenient and safer," she added.