Published on Dec 24, 2025

On December 19, “AI-assisted diagnosis” was included for the first time in China in an official guideline defining price items for pathological medical services. This marks a critical step toward making AI reimbursable within the Chinese healthcare system.

On that day, China’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA, 国家医疗保障局) listed AI-assisted diagnosis as one of 29 pricing items in its new guideline for pathological medical services. This is the first time AI has entered a catalogue of services that can, in principle, be billed through public health insurance.

For medical service providers of all kinds, the move signals that China’s healthcare market is likely to open up further to AI-based products and services. For physicians and hospital administrators, it reduces uncertainty over whether and how AI can be deployed in everyday clinical practice.

It is widely expected that pathology will be only the first of many areas in which the government integrates AI into the established medical framework. The current inclusion lays the groundwork for a more orderly commercialization of AI in healthcare, even though detailed pricing still needs to be defined at the provincial level.

On December 20, a new cluster dedicated to medical artificial intelligence opened in Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan district. Around 20 companies have already settled there. In cooperation with universities and research institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and nearby Zhejiang University, a teaching and training base is also planned, according to the news portal Zhongxinwang.

The cluster provides computer scientists and startups with access to computing resources, medical data repositories, and platforms for model development, testing, and evaluation of AI solutions. Support for commercialization is also part of the offering.

Officially named the “National AI Application Pilot and Validation Base (Healthcare) – Zhejiang,” the cluster is intended to serve as a launchpad for the spread of AI across China’s healthcare system.

China now hosts more leading science and technology clusters of this kind than any other country, according to the Global Innovation Index published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a UN agency based in Geneva. Although this is currently still a small cluster, China is once again applying a proven strategy, this time in healthcare AI, by not only incubating startups, but by building a full innovation ecosystem that links industry, research, education, local governments, and capital providers.

On December 15, Ant Group renamed its AI health app from “AQ” to “Ant Afu.” Following the rebranding and a software update, the number of monthly active users surged to more than 15 million, according to the online edition of the business newspaper Jingji Guancha Bao.

The app allows users to ask medical questions, provides answers to simpler queries, and recommends specialist consultations via online platforms for more serious issues. Unlike earlier versions, Ant Afu can now ask follow-up questions and is positioned as a “companion” or “virtual family doctor.”

According to Chinese media reports, 55 percent of users live outside major metropolitan areas, where access to medical care remains limited. More than 500 specialists are represented via virtual avatars, enabling them to handle 100,000 consultations or more in rapid succession.

More than half of user questions are highly repetitive and can therefore be answered easily by AI, the reports note. In addition to the very popular advice related to pregnancy, the app also offers guidance on preventive checkups and weight loss.