China is the world’s digital health leader

China has leapfrogged ahead of other countries when it comes to digital health adoption, and there are important lessons to learn from the country’s experience, according to a new report from Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG).

Most Chinese health professionals — 94% — report using digital health technologies or mobile health apps, according to the Future Health Index (FHI) 2019 report that Philips announced today. The average was 78% across the 15 countries in the survey. In the U.S., it was 76%.

Saudi Arabia (85%) is also a forerunner when it comes to health providers using digital health, and India (88%) and Russia (81%) are also ahead in certain areas.

The survey included 15,000 individuals and more than 3,100 healthcare professionals.

China’s digital health leadership has created a $4.6 billion-a-year market for wearables, the world’s largest, with a projected annual growth rate of 3.7%, according to the Philips report.

Digital health technology appears to have some effect in China, too. Four-fifths of Chinese individuals in the survey reported contacting a health professional because of information received from digital health technology or mobile health apps; across all 15 countries it was less than half.

Among Chinese people in the survey who had seen a health professional over the past 12 months, 63% reported tracking key health indicators.

Other factors in the report also indicate that China is the digital health leader:

• China over the past five years has accounted for three-fifths of global investment and financing related to artificial intelligence, versus 29% for the U.S. The general population in China — along with Russia and Saudi Arabia — are also most likely to associate more accurate diagnosis with the use of AI in healthcare.
• About 44% of people in China say that, given the choice, they would prefer a consultation with their doctor remotely via a digital channel for non-urgent care, more than any other country.

Not everything about digital health in China is positive. More than a quarter of Chinese health professionals, for example, think their long-term job security is threatened by new advancements in healthcare technology, according to the report.