Bank of China (3988) has launched the International Healthcare Financial Services Platform in the Greater Bay Area, with one-stop services including cross-border yuan settlement and transfer of medical records.
As a growing number of Hongkongers have been seeking cross-border medical care on the mainland in recent years, the platform allows patients to receive treatment at partner hospitals without upfront payment, with insurers settling the bills directly with hospitals.
The platform integrates financial services such as banking guarantees, cross-border remittance, and consolidated reconciliation, allowing the cross-border healthcare services to go beyond traditional boundaries, the bank said.
“More and more patients are seeking treatment in Guangdong, but direct billing through their insurers has not been possible. This platform clears the bottleneck, smoothing the way for cross-border medical care," said Wu Deqing, director of Guangzhou Concord Medical Centre at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital.
Currently, 15 hospitals, including Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University and Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University, have joined the platform.
Nine mainland insurers have reached cooperation with the BOC's platform, with several Hong Kong and Macao insurers expressing interest in partnership.
