A total of 117 hospitals in Guangzhou can now provide mobile payment services for people with medical insurance across the city, the Guangzhou medical insurance service center announced on Feb 26.

The Guangzhou medical insurance service center has been exploring the possibility of establishing a platform integrating medical insurance and online payment services with the Guangdong Branch of China UnionPay, Tencent, and Ant Financial. By February, mobile payment services were available in 117 medical insurance-designated hospitals in 11 districts across Guangzhou.

As of January, a total of 400,000 insured citizens in Guangzhou had linked online payment with their medical insurance accounts, and approximately 56.77 million yuan (8.26 million) was paid in medical expenses. Time needed for payment was shortened significantly, helping reduce overcrowding in hospitals.

Although hospitals have successfully implemented online payment services, parents who take their children to see a doctor still need to queue up to pay. The Guangzhou medical insurance service center has cooperated with the Guangdong Branch of China UnionPay to implement a mobile medical insurance payment function to cover the insurance recipient's immediate family members using their social security cards.

The system is currently being developed jointly with the Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center. It will be spread to other hospitals throughout the city in 2019, according to insiders.

A person makes a mobile payment at a hospital in Guangzhou. [Photo/Chinanews.com]