Interview with Intellectual Celebrities

GUO Chongqing

Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering

Professor of the School of Economics and Management of Tongji University

The Future Is Here! Shanghai Embraces the Perfect Timing to Build a Truly Smart Hospital

December 31, 2019

Source: whb.cn

We are at the intersection of the new global scientific and technological revolution, industrial reform and China’s economic transformation. As a national leader in reform and opening up and a pioneer in innovation and development, how can Shanghai give full play to its own advantages and find new economic growth poles?

Aiming at finding answers for this “big problem”, GUO Chongqing, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor of the School of Economics and Management of Tongji University who has been engaged in strategic industry research for many years, has focused his research in one particular field–healthcare–in the past year.

“To meet the people’s longing for a better life, we still have some shortcomings in our heathcare services that need to be amended. We must seize the opportunities brought by the development of artificial intelligence technology, we must develop forward-looking plans and accumulate energy for the future development of Shanghai, and we believe that the healthcare field may give birth to rare development opportunities.” On the basis of careful thinking and thorough field studies, Guo Chongqing summarized his recent research results into one piece of advice: Perhaps, Shanghai should build a truly smart hospital.

Focusing on this piece of advice, Guo Chongqing accepted an exclusive interview with our reporter FAN Liping.

The best hospitals we have are not truly smart in essence

“Almost all hospitals, including the ones in Shanghai, are now talking about the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and it is true that some hospitals have introduced some AI-based technologies and services during patients’ first visit to the hospitals and preliminary diagnosis and treatment, but even then the best hospitals we have right now are not truly smart.” Talking to our reporter, Guo Chongqing was straightforward: What is healthcare? Healthcare care is a service. He said that the hospitals should not only pay attention to the improvement of diagnosis and treatment technology, but also optimize the patient’s overall experience at the hospital. For example, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University has a total of 8,000 beds, and there are 20,000 to 30,000 patients visiting each day; Shanghai Huashan Hospital’s dermatology is well-known throughout the country, and the “grand event” of more than 3,000 patient visits plays out almost every day… regardless of whether we are talking about doctors or patients, they are both looking forward to a comfortable diagnosis and treatment environment.

How to fundamentally improve the medical care experience? According to Guo Chongqing’s observation, optimizing the healthcare process by the hospitals alone cannot solve systemic problems. The current medical care industry needs a systematic revolution that is driven by fundamental technological advancement, “triggered” by major technology breakthroughs, and one that has the potential to reshape the industry. The emergence of AI happened to bring such an opportunity.

“In building smart hospitals, it is rather a breakthrough in building a patient-centered healthcare service with information technology as the means, rather than simply seeking technological breakthroughs.” Guo Chongqing believes that smart medical care is a concept derived from the technological development of the internet, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence, it follows the internet thinking pattern which features openness, equality, collaboration, and sharing. It has inherited the general characteristics of the internet economy, which can be described as interdisciplinary, platform-based, ecology-centric, decentralized, co-build, and sharing.

In short, the realization of smart healthcare will weaken the imbalance between supply and demand of doctors and patients, optimize medical access affected by spatial geography, weaken the asymmetry of medical information, and at the same time strengthen the “patient-centered” service concept.

The smart hospital in this “blueprint” needs to start from scratch

So, what will the real smart hospital look like? What are the differences going to be?

Guo Chongqing believes that the answers to these questions first and foremost depend on our understanding of the industrial revolution right in front of us. Our society has widely accepted the saying that “the future has come”, which means all industries will follow the development pattern of “digitalization-networking-intelligence”. In the future, the integration of the Cyber-Physical-Social Systems (CPSS) of each industry will decide its development direction.

“Whether it is at the level of corporate competition and industrial reshaping, or at the national level, whoever mastered the power of CPSS will have the upper hand in future development.” In Guo Chongqing’s view, the focus of the “second half” of the internet development tide will be switched to the internet connection of particular industries. Manufacturing, transportation, medical care, education, agriculture and other fields all breed opportunities for the rise of emerging industries. In view of the industrial development status quo of Shanghai, healtchare is the industry that has the most adequate resources and the greatest potential to become the new economic growth pole.

“Shanghai’s comparative advantage is obvious.” According to Guo Chongqing’s analysis, on the one hand, Shanghai has the best medical resources in China, the city hosts not only a large number of famous hospitals and doctors, but also a number of well-known medical schools, nationwide influential medical research institutions, and pharmaceutical giants from all over the world; on the other hand, in the process of accelerating regional integration in the Yangtze River Delta, the geographical advantage of “backing on to the Yangtze River Delta” also means huge market demand. At the same time, the establishment of the Lin-Gang Area of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone also provided an opportunity for the construction of smart hospitals from the institutional level.

Guo Chongqing emphasized that the “landing” of smart hospitals should be an emerging smart medical park different from all traditional hospitals in physical space, and everything needs to be developed from scratch. Just like drawing on blank sheets, he sketched a simplified profile about the “prototype” of the smart hospitals from different respectives–

Where would the doctors come from? Famous doctors in Shanghai and even the whole country, and even well-known overseas healtchare providers can be recruited. The consultation room of each hospital only needs a few doctors. A large number of related services, such as registration, testing, and entertainment, are all outsourced to third parties;

How will patients access healtchare? The hospitals will set up the operation route for unmanned vehicles according to the medical treatment process, and the patient completes the entire medical treatment process while carried along the pre-set route by the unmanned vehicle;

The biggest difference between this place and traditional hospitals is that patients receive diagnosis and treatment services in the central area of the park, and the outer circle of the park can be set up as in-patient facilities and family care places.

In addition, medical R&D institutions can also be stationed at the same park, take advantage of “zero distance” to carry out clinical trials, fully tap into medical big data, and find new applications of treatments, etc.

Expectations high that Shanghai may “give birth” to a world-changing industry revolution

“Building smart hospitals does not mean to integrate resources to replicate a traditional hospital, instead, it means to create a decentralized, brand new ecological chain of medical care.” Guo Chongqing believes that in the face of this new technological revolution and industrial transformation, China still a great opportunity to realize the transformation from technological “follower” to “leader” despite the fact that China still has to overcome a lot of shortcomings in the research of fundamental technologies. The reason behind such optimism is that the development of AI is driven by scenario applications. China has vast internet network, rich application scenarios, obvious data advantages, and strong market demand. These advantageous timing and geographical conditions may make China a future “winner.”

“Shanghai, as a cutting-edge city for reform and opening up, must embrace this technological revolution with the spirit of spontaneity, and accumulate strength for the next round of development.” Guo Chongqing said that providing better healtchare is not only a desire for people’s livelihood, its economic pulling effect should not be underestimated. Evidence have shown that the medical cosmetology industry of South Korea and the health care industry in Taiwan have become the development pole of the local economy.

“Currently, China’s economy is in the stage of new and old kinetic energy conversion. In the field of artificial intelligence and biomedicine development, Shanghai must not be absent.” Looking forward to the building of smart hospitals, Guo Chongqing admitted that he hopes Shanghai may “give birth” to this world-changing industry revolution in the near future.

The original link：

https://whb.cn/zhuzhan/yiliao/20191231/311539.html