Addressing pain points such as "repeated queuing" and "long lines" faced by the public when paying for medical services, the General Office of the National Healthcare Security Administration issued the “Notice on Vigorously Promoting Convenient Payment Methods Such as Facial Recognition, QR Code, Mobile, and Credit-Based Payments” on January 8. The notice calls for accelerating the implementation of facial recognition, QR code, mobile, and credit-based payments across various medical settings, with the goal of fully establishing a convenient medical insurance payment system within approximately three years. According to the notice, the first batch of pilot cities should include at least two from each province. Provinces must ensure that the pilot regions and designated medical institutions achieve tangible results by 2026, achieve basic coverage across all coordinated regions within the province by 2027, and fully roll out the system to all eligible designated medical institutions within the province by 2028. (CCTV)