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care and care market. From product innovations this respect. For example, the Guangzhou First
to the speedy supply of elderly health care and People’s Hospital have collaborated with the
care services, these insurance organizations have Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of
rolled out diversified models in elderly care. Elderly Hong Kong to develop the Hong Kong Medicine
care financial management, exclusive commercial Connection project. This project allows residents
elderly care insurance, elderly care-specific to seek remote consultation from hospitals over
savings and commercial pension are among the the Internet and obtain the prescription for
trial products that were launched, boosting the commonly used medications in Hong Kong and
selection of products and service models in the Macau, which are then delivered to their homes in
elderly care financial market of the GBA. the GBA. Remote health care will also benefit from
the advancements in wearable computers and
Technological innovations have also the Internet of Things (IoT). Wearable computers
empowered the elderly care finance industry in enable the elderly to monitor their health conditions
the GBA, offering novel means of security to the remotely and detect instances of abnormalities in a
development of elderly care finance. For example, timely manner.
the “Smart Elderly Care Services Platform” of the
Luohu District in Shenzhen disburses and manages Big Data Platforms: The construction of big data
the home-based elderly care vouchers by using the platforms is crucial for establishing trustworthy
digital Renminbi hard wallet. The elderly can spend and smooth digital data flow. Zhuhai’s Hengqin
money at the coops by tapping their digital cards, Hospital and the health care service providers in
significantly enhancing the convenience elderly Macau have set up pilot schemes for the mutual
care services. Technology has been fueling the recognition of cross-border health records,
innovative development of the elderly care finance e-health histories and testing results. Within the
industry, revitalizing and upgrading the elderly care GBA, the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai,
finance system of the GBA. Foshan, Huizhou, Zhongshan and Jiangmen have
taken the lead in establishing municipality-wide
3.3. Innovate the co-administration of health information platforms, thereby achieving
elderly care services interconnectivity and mutual access, data sharing
and joint service provision amongst the major
Cross-border elderly care requires the high level health care providers in these municipalities.
of security for health care data transfer and sharing Furthermore, big data is the basis upon which
across the region, enabling health care providers the overall health status of Guangdong Province’s
and doctors to retrieve the patient’s information population can be monitored. In this sense, big
quickly. The existing differences of the health care data is laying the groundwork for the integration
systems in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau and sharing of health care information in the GBA.
present certain challenges for cross-border elderly As big data becomes available, health data from the
care and health care. Therefore, inter-system GBA can be collated, allowing for analyses and data
alignment in cross-border health care is essential mining, which, in turn, informs health care-related
to ensure that Hong Kong and Macau residents policymaking with accuracy and scientific support.
receive timely and effective health care services.
Technological innovations will play a significant
role in addressing these challenges by providing 4. Confronting the challenges of
convenient, secure and individualized elderly care cross-border elderly care
services in the following ways:
The foregoing practices and joint developments
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have shown certain positive results in the cross-
technologies: These technologies facilitate remote border elderly care services industry in the GBA.
health care services. Currently, many collaborative However, the rising trend of an aging population
projects have demonstrated new possibilities in presents further difficulties and challenges ahead.

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