Every 100 Points Can Be Redeemed for 1 Yuan of Health Services or Products, Shanghai Will Implement a “Health Points System”
To implement the legal provision in the “Regulations on Patriotic Health and Health Promotion in Shanghai” regarding “exploring the establishment of a health points reward mechanism,” on the morning of November 28, the Shanghai Municipal Patriotic Health Campaign Committee Office (SMPHCO) held a deployment meeting for the pilot project of the health points reward mechanism at the People’s City Practice Exhibition Hall.
The conference revealed that Shanghai will take the lead in launching the “health points system” pilot in Qingpu District and Yangpu District. Through redeeming items or services with points, it aims to mobilize and encourage citizens to actively participate in self-management of their health, actively practice healthy lifestyles, and truly implement the concept that “individuals are the primary responsibles for their own health.” Based on the pilot projects in these two districts, Shanghai will roll out the “health points system” across the city starting from the end of 2025.
Article 35 of the “Regulations on Patriotic Health and Health Promotion in Shanghai” clearly stipulates: “The city shall explore the establishment of a health points reward mechanism to award points to citizens for participating in health education, physical fitness, and health management activities. Specific measures shall be formulated separately by the municipal health department in conjunction with relevant departments. Medical and health institutions, enterprises, institutions, and social organizations are encouraged to provide point redemption services.”
To this end, the SMPHCO, the Municipal Health Commission, and the Municipal Health Promotion Center have jointly developed a pilot program for the health points system, adhering to five principles: fairness, ensuring equal participation opportunities and rights for all citizens, with objective, open, and transparent rules, standards, and processes for health points; progressiveness, initially determining some basic projects for piloting based on current citizen health needs, and dynamically adjusting them based on the pilot situation; accessibility, gradually expanding the channels and platforms for citizens to participate in the points system, making it convenient for citizens to earn points and redeem rewards or services through various means; quantifiability, ensuring that the operation and redemption of the points system are data-driven, monitorable, and analyzable; and fun, incorporating gamification elements into the points system to enhance the fun of activities through check-ins, challenges, competitions, and talent selections, attracting citizens to continue participating.
According to the SMPHCO, the health points system is targeted at the permanent resident population in the pilot districts, including registered residents and permanent migrant populations. The points focus on citizens’ proactive health-related behaviors, and four types of healthy behaviors can earn health points:
Firstly, active learning, such as checking in to learn, browsing, and answering questions on municipal official health education platforms (e.g., “Hu Xiaokang,” Shanghai Health Channel, “Health Cloud”) to learn health knowledge and skills. The content includes the four cornerstones of health (balanced diet, appropriate exercise, mental health, quitting smoking and limiting alcohol), the “three reductions and three health promotions” (reducing salt, oil, and sugar; promoting healthy oral cavity, weight, and bones), as well as emergency self-rescue, disease prevention, environmental health, scientific medical treatment, rational drug use, traditional Chinese medicine healthcare, family-friendly propaganda, pest control, and voluntary blood donation, among other health knowledge and skills.
Secondly, actively practicing healthy lifestyles, such as engaging in physical exercise, scientific diets, controlling smoking and limiting alcohol, and getting adequate sleep. These healthy behaviors are mainly collected through information tools, activity check-ins, smart wearable devices, etc., such as sports apps, “WeChat Sports,” “Alipay Green Travel” and other mini programs, as well as smart wearable devices (bracelets), video recording, and AI motion analysis technology to identify and record sports information, including various forms of exercise like walking, fitness, rope skipping, Baduanjin, physical therapy, and traditional exercise guidance.
Thirdly, actively using public health services, including signed services with family doctors, medical referral services, basic public health services for residents (such as prenatal health checks, vaccinations, elderly health checks, chronic disease monitoring, disease screening, student health checks, etc.), traditional Chinese medicine for “preventive treatment of diseases,” self-checking and self-testing (such as self-testing at health stations), participating in citizen health self-management group activities, and community health lectures and consultations.
Fourthly, public welfare behaviors, including participating in voluntary activities such as blood donation, pest control, and patriotic health and health promotion.
Currently, the “Health Points” platform is led by the SMPHCO and the Municipal Health Commission, integrating existing platforms such as “Health Cloud” and “Shanghai Health Education Flagship,” which can manage, count, and query points to ensure data consistency and security. The platform adopts a city-district hierarchical management mode, with each district having a dedicated account for refined management and statistics of residents’ points within its jurisdiction. The platform will also open data exchange interfaces with data platforms of other departments such as healthcare, sports, culture, tourism, and commerce to expand more sources of information for earning points.
In principle, every 100 points can be redeemed for health services or products worth 1 yuan. A city-district two-level redemption model is adopted, where municipal points are redeemed in the “Health Cloud” gold coin mall, and district-level points are redeemed on redemption platforms independently established (or purchased as services) by each district. The municipal and district-level redemption platforms can achieve jumps, and the redemption service first determines the district-level redemption platform based on the location of the family doctor service contract. The municipal and district-level redemption services can introduce mature third-party enterprise cooperation mechanisms, guide social forces to participate, and provide citizens with richer and more personalized health products and services.
The SMPHCO stated that the health points system focuses on “prevention, population, and patients,” advocating for healthy lifestyles, intervening in risk factors and behaviors, reducing the incidence of diseases, improving chronic patient compliance, and lowering medical expenses, which has long-term economic and social benefits. This is a significant innovative measure and legal institutional arrangement for the city to legally promote health promotion from a “small prescription” of medical and health services to a “large prescription” of overall social collaboration, and from “passive patient management and post-illness management” to “universal and all-age prevention and healthcare, as well as proactive health management.”
Meanwhile, Shanghai will further strengthen cross-departmental and cross-field cooperation through the health points system, forming a “great health” work pattern of “universal participation and social co-governance,” while cultivating a health culture and ecology, realizing the shift from “health for me” to “I want health,” and enhancing citizens’ awareness, ability, and literacy in self-health management.
