On August 14, 2026, the National Healthcare Security Administration officially issued the coding standard for the Medical Insurance Pathology Cloud Index, marking another milestone in digital healthcare infrastructure following the earlier Medical Insurance Imaging Cloud initiative.

This new standard addresses long-standing industry challenges such as inconsistent pathology data standards and poor data circulation. By creating a unified national pathology data index, the initiative aims to activate, mobilize, and fully utilize pathology records across medical institutions, breaking down barriers to cross-regional and cross-institutional data sharing. The move is expected to enhance patient convenience, support clinical diagnosis and treatment, and accelerate the digital and intelligent transformation of the pathology sector.

The Problem: Fragmented Data Hinders Patient Care

Pathological diagnosis serves as the gold standard for clinical disease identification. For example, determining whether a pulmonary ground-glass nodule is benign or malignant, or whether it is primary or metastatic, ultimately relies on pathological slide analysis. These diagnostic results directly influence critical decisions such as surgical scope, radiotherapy and chemotherapy protocols, and prognosis evaluation. They are essential for precise treatment of complex conditions including tumors, liver diseases, and kidney diseases, while also serving as vital data resources for clinical quality control, targeted therapy, and new drug development.

For years, domestic pathology data has been trapped in what industry experts describe as an "island dilemma." Traditional pathological examinations depend on physical glass slides. Even when some institutions have completed digital upgrades, incompatible equipment and inconsistent data formats mean that digital slide images and pathology reports remain locked within hospital departments, unable to deliver their full value. This situation creates significant pain points for both patients and healthcare providers. Patients seeking care across institutions must carry physical slides between locations, with the borrowing and return process often taking two to three weeks. Some patients even undergo repeat biopsies at the receiving hospital, diminishing both efficiency and patient experience. Meanwhile, medical institutions cannot conduct routine remote pathology consultations based on shared examination data, and high-quality resources from superior institutions cannot effectively reach primary-level facilities, limiting the overall capacity of regional pathology services.

The Solution: Standardized Coding Assigns Unique Identifiers

To decisively dismantle these data-sharing barriers, the National Healthcare Security Administration has established a national medical insurance pathology cloud system. The newly issued coding rules generate a nationally unified, unique digital identifier for each patient's pathological examination. This enables rapid, accurate retrieval of pathology data across regions and institutions, ushering pathology services into a new era of digitization, standardization, and universal interoperability.

The pathology cloud index comprises eight sections totaling 79 characters, encompassing comprehensive core examination information with full-dimensional coverage and precise traceability. The credential type and number identify the patient, the visit type distinguishes outpatient from inpatient scenarios, the pathology application number, pathology number, examination time, and examination category precisely locate individual examination records, and the institution code identifies the entity issuing the diagnostic report. Together, these elements ensure standardized collection, accurate matching, and secure sharing of pathology data.

The Benefits: Multi-Party Gains from Standardization

The unified pathology cloud index establishes a standardized foundation for cloud-based storage, retrieval, and shared access to national pathology data, unlocking new momentum for intelligent healthcare development.

For patient convenience and cost reduction, the unified index enables nationwide interconnection of pathology data. Medical institutions can retrieve patients' lifelong pathology records online, eliminating the need for patients to transport physical slides across distances. This saves both time and money while significantly improving the experience of seeking medical care outside one's home region.

For institutional efficiency, the unified index removes barriers between regions and institutional hierarchies. Large hospitals can streamline diagnostic workflows and improve efficiency, while primary-level institutions gain effective access to expert resources. Standardized digital slides combined with AI-assisted diagnosis reduce human interpretation errors, improve diagnostic accuracy, address shortcomings in grassroots care, and promote homogeneous, precise development of regional pathology services.

For industry standardization, more than 95% of pathology departments in domestic medical institutions have yet to undergo digital and intelligent upgrades. The implementation of this coding standard will activate the digital pathology transformation market across thousands of medical institutions, driving iteration and adoption of digital slide scanners, AI-assisted diagnosis tools, and pathology information systems. This positions the digital pathology industry to enter a new phase of standardized, regulated, and high-quality growth.

Implementation Roadmap: Strengthening Digital Healthcare Services

The introduction of the pathology cloud index coding standard responds directly to public concerns about redundant examinations when seeking care across hospitals. It also represents a critical step in advancing healthcare governance toward greater digitalization and refinement. The National Healthcare Security Administration will adhere to a code-library combination approach, developing supporting standardized datasets that uniformly aggregate disease diagnoses, tumor classifications, settlement data, and other information. Guidance will be provided to regions for phased implementation of cloud-based pathology data aggregation and sharing. As the pathology cloud becomes fully operational nationwide, it will continue to reduce burdens on patients, balance medical resources, safeguard fund security, and empower high-quality healthcare development through standardization and digitalization.