A Review of Research Hotspots and Development Trends in Smart Healthcare in China

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes literature on smart healthcare published in core journals on the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) platform from 2020 to 2025, reviewing aspects such as research hotspots, key technologies, application practices, and challenges. Literature analysis reveals that smart healthcare research in China is characterized by the coexistence of technology-driven development and application deepening, alongside an emphasis on ethical governance and inclusive accessibility. Core technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, and blockchain collectively form the foundation for smart healthcare development, propelling its evolution from single-point applications towards a fully integrated, whole-process, whole-cycle intelligent service ecosystem. At the application level, research focuses on key scenarios including smart hospital construction, comprehensive chronic disease management, integrated healthcare and elderly care, telemedicine, and the intellectualization of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), with significant results achieved. However, systemic challenges such as data security and privacy protection, algorithm fairness and explainability, the digital divide, restructuring of doctor-patient relationships, and lagging policies, regulations, and standards remain critical bottlenecks constraining high-quality development. In the future, the development of smart healthcare must strengthen integrated technological innovation, synergistic ethical and legal governance, interdisciplinary talent cultivation, and inclusive service design to achieve safe, trustworthy, efficient, and equitable sustainable development.