Discussions on nationwide use of the residents health card

The resident health card is a one-card-through practice for medical treatment and cost settlement across regions and institutions.It is key to building the residents health archives and a solid step forward by the government to implement its IT for the People Program.The paper probed into the possibility of,based on a study of the provincial and ministerial level management platform of residents health card information,building a data-sharing mechanism for residents health cards distribution and hospital application,and establishing a nationwide patients' identity indexes and personal health archives.This initiative,if achieved,can achieve information exchange and sharing between residents and medical institutions,and among different medical institutions as well. Key words: Residents health card;  Data sharing;  One-card-through;  Personal health archives