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Rise of connected blood glucose testing at Chinese hospitals

In China, the use of connected point-of-care (POC) blood glucose testing will play an increasingly important role in diabetes management at hospitals. China has the largest number of diabetes cases in the world. Besides patients hospitalised for diabetes complications, the country also has a large population of inpatients with high blood glucose levels which has been associated with increased hospitalisation expenses.

A government drive to control the rise in diabetes cases has prompted more hospitals and health systems to improve service delivery around diabetes management. In one pilot programme, the government used a reimbursement policy to incentivise some hospitals in Tianjin to improve diabetes management. Hospitals have implemented blood glucose information systems to improve blood glucose monitoring, treatment and management. The Fifth People’s Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai implemented blood glucose information management within its hospital and also established a regional blood glucose information management centre for other general hospitals and community centres.

New clinical requirements will drive the switch from non-connected to connected blood glucose testing, with the market expected to grow 12.6% annually during the forecast period of 2019-2024—making it the fastest-growing market segment for POC testing in China.

IVD companies that are able to offer strong support to health providers as the diabetes management model transforms, will become a part of the growth story for the POC blood glucose testing market. Sinomedisite, a Chinese company with a combined focus on blood glucose testing products and blood glucose information management systems, increased its market share in the connected hospital POC blood glucose market through localised data-compliant IT solutions meeting the unique demands of Chinese hospitals.

With improving connections between large top city hospitals and small rural hospitals in China’s drive to provide universal healthcare services, the latter is looking for low throughput with a quick turnaround, and affordable, yet digitised point of care products.

Yuan Li, principal consultant, EIU Healthcare

For more on the POC diagnostics market in Asia, download the report on “The future of POC testing in Asia-Pacific.”