Beijing, Aug 26, 2026 — China issued a 10-point directive to overhaul its family doctor contract system, expanding services from grassroots clinics to tier-two and tier-three public hospitals and private facilities while mandating artificial intelligence integration across primary care networks.
Policy Snapshot
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Legal basis | State Council Government Work Report; Guo Ban Fa [2026] No. 11; Yi Bao Fa [2026] No. 7 |
| Document | Notice on Deepening “Six Expansions” to Solidify Family Doctor Contract Services |
| Core focus | Tiered diagnosis and treatment; primary care strengthening |
| Total measures | 10 specific requirements |
| Key tech mandate | “AI+” enabled contract services |
The Six Expansions
The directive centers on six structural coverage extensions:
- Specialist inclusion — Contract services expand from general practitioners to clinical and TCM specialists at primary institutions.
- Hospital integration — Services extend from grassroots facilities to tier-two and tier-three public hospitals.
- Private sector entry — Private medical institutions are progressively incorporated into the contract network.
- Individual contracts — Shift from team-based to individual physician-patient contracts.
- Disease scope — Broaden from chronic disease management to combined chronic and infectious disease co-management.
- Flexible terms — Replace fixed contract cycles with adaptable durations based on patient needs.
Additional Directives
- Gatekeeping mandate — Family doctors assume first-contact responsibility; contracted residents must be prioritized at primary clinics and referred upward only when clinically indicated.
- Segmented services — Differentiated contracts for community residents, workplace populations, and general groups, with family-unit enrollment encouraged.
- Content optimization — Tailored service packages for key community groups, workplace cohorts, and general populations.
- Digital enablement — Accelerate “AI+” contract services, optimize the national health information platform, and deploy artificial intelligence to assist family doctors, serve contracted populations, and streamline administration under safety-controlled conditions.
Policy Impact Analysis
The directive operationalizes Beijing’s broader tiered-care reform by tightening the gatekeeping role of family doctors—a structural pivot designed to divert patient flow from overloaded tertiary hospitals to primary facilities. The inclusion of tier-two and tier-three hospitals alongside private clinics signals a unified primary-care network rather than an isolated grassroots system.
The AI mandate is particularly notable. By formally embedding artificial intelligence into family doctor workflows and national health platforms, regulators are betting on technology to close the capacity gap at the primary level, where physician shortages have historically undermined contract-service quality. If executed at scale, the “AI+” push could reduce administrative burdens on grassroots clinicians and standardize chronic-disease monitoring across provinces.
Implementation Requirements
Local health commissions are instructed to align the new measures with previously issued home-hospital-bed service guidelines and patient-experience enhancement policies, ensuring integrated rollout rather than fragmented compliance.
Forward-Looking Statement
Healthcare analysts expect the 10-point plan to accelerate consolidation of China’s primary-care market, creating partnership opportunities for private clinics and health-tech vendors that can demonstrate AI-enabled diagnostic or patient-management tools. The mandate for tier-two and tier-three hospital participation may gradually blur institutional boundaries, potentially reshaping referral revenue streams. With the 15th Five-Year Plan cycle underway, the directive sets the regulatory foundation for a nationwide family doctor network that could serve as the data and patient-flow backbone for future value-based care pilots.-China Health Reform Pulse
For detailed implementation guidelines and the full list of approved products, refer to the official announcements from the Guangdong Provincial Medical Device Exchange Center.
Policy Source: https://www.nhc.gov.cn/jws/c100072/202608/08427cd5ccb647e6bbf90dc196017d0f.shtml