Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian province, recently released China’s first interim procedures for healthcare big data regulation at the China Southeast Big Data Industrial Cooperation Conference.

A national (Fuzhou) healthcare big data network and a service platform were also launched at the conference which was held in the city on April 25. Rui Xiaowu, chairman of China Electronics Corporation and vice-president of the Chinese Health Information Association, attended the conference, and witnessed a series of agreements on cooperation in the healthcare sector signed between the Fuzhou government and Fujian Investment and Development Group, and Fujian Electronics and Information Group, CEC’s Fujian subsidiary.

A series of cooperation agreements in the healthcare sector are signed between the Fuzhou government and Fujian Investment and Development Group, and Fujian Electronics and Information Group at the China Southeast Big Data Industrial Cooperation Conference in Fuzhou, Fujian province, on April 25. [Photo/fjsen.com]

Fuzhou identifies healthcare big data as enormous amounts of data involving healthcare and wellness generated by government agencies and healthcare institutions and collected via the internet, the internet of things and third party entities. The data covers the full lifespan of all populations and is critical for the security of national public health and bio-information.

The trial measure regulates the collection, management and sharing of such data, with the aim of pushing for the public use of healthcare data in a legal, orderly method. It also intends to facilitate the transmission from big data resources to products and services to realize the core value of the industry.

According to the Fuzhou government, the measure focuses on innovation and safety. It stipulates that healthcare information involving trade secrets and items of individual privacy will be kept confidential before being desensitized. Traceability will be ensured for all processes. Logs and documents will be kept for a minimum of three years.

To ensure the safe use of healthcare data, local authorities will regulate market access in data mining and utilization, and establish a credit rating system and an exit mechanism.

The national healthcare big data network has accumulated nearly 10 billion pieces of public health data, clinical data, genomics data, and internet of things data. It will provide data services on the premise of ensuring safety and privacy.

The launch of the network will facilitate policy-making and healthcare reform, and enable the healthcare industry to provide better service to the public.

Fuzhou is also building a national healthcare big data center in the coastal county of Chengle. The center will take up 4 hectares on the initial stage to house 100 to 150 cabinets. Four databases – an interface repository, an integrated library, a thematic database and a shared library — will be completed in December.

With the completion of the center, Fujian will be able to gather and backup all healthcare data generated by all sorts of institutions and government agencies in the province, and realize organic connections between different platforms.

Already, Beijing-based Berry Genomics and two other healthcare service providers have decided to base their operations at the center.

Fuzhou has been the pioneer of China’s digitalization progress and a key player in Fujian’s digitalization plan. The prefecture-level city has made rich achievements in the digitalization of administrative management, public services and information security, and earned a position among the first cities to pilot China’s smart urbanization plans. Now it is expanding into the healthcare data sector.