On October 14th, during a media tour focused on high-quality development in Beijing, I had the opportunity to visit the Beijing Anzhen Hospital’s Tongzhou branch, a key project aimed at relieving non-capital functions and optimizing the layout of Beijing’s urban sub-center. After four years of construction, this facility is set to fully open its doors later this month.
Located in the Liuhe Village area of Beijing’s Tongzhou District, this will be the largest hospital currently under construction in the city. The site is bounded by Liuhe Village East Road to the east, the Jingyu Old Line to the south, Cultural District West Road to the west, and Luyuan Second Street to the north. With a total floor area of 340,000 square meters, it features two underground levels and ten above ground levels, with a planned capacity of 1,300 beds. The construction includes a comprehensive medical building, educational facilities, a conference center, a research building, and an animal experiment building.
One of the noteworthy aspects of the new campus is its streamlined patient flow. The hospital designs distinct pathways for outpatient, inpatient, check-up, and discharge processes, ensuring that these streams do not overlap. Patients will find various services such as registration, consultations, tests, medication pickup, and payment all contained within a 60-meter radius in the outpatient hall.
On the first floor, the outpatient service center stands out as a central hub for patients. Here, staff provide a range of services, including first-time patient registration, insurance processing, medical document stamping, and printing lab reports—all aimed at resolving outpatient issues in a single stop, significantly enhancing service efficiency. Additionally, there is an accessible service window specifically designed for individuals with disabilities, ensuring a welcoming environment for all patients.
A representative from Anzhen Hospital highlighted the extensive use of information technology in the hospital’s operations to establish a benchmark for smart healthcare. Through the hospital’s WeChat mini-program, patients are paired with a personalized “navigation assistant” that supports them from appointment scheduling to in-house navigation, check-in, pre-consultation discussions, exam bookings, and medication pickups. This continuous support simplifies the healthcare experience.
Taking the medication dispensing process as an example, after checking in at the pharmacy, patients can receive their medications via an intelligent dispensing machine, which can prepare prescriptions in as little as 20 seconds. On average, patients can pick up their medications in under two minutes, drastically reducing wait times.
According to a hospital spokesperson, the Anzhen Hospital’s Tongzhou branch pharmacy is the first large-tier hospital in the country to implement an integrated intelligent management system for its inventory and dispensing processes. Using advanced information technology and automated equipment, the pharmacy ensures precise dispensing, storage, and distribution of medications. The entire process, from the delivery of drugs from manufacturers to their verification and distribution to patients, is executed through a closed-loop robotic system. The digital pharmacy system also includes features for inventory management, expiration monitoring, and automated replenishment, all aimed at ensuring the safety and quality of medications.
Come late October, the Tongzhou branch of Anzhen Hospital plans to open 14 inpatient wards with a capacity of 490 beds, along with 64 outpatient units being operational daily. With the official opening of the Tongzhou branch, Anzhen Hospital aims to leverage its strengths in cardiovascular disease treatment, serving as a critical healthcare resource for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, especially in managing urgent and severe cardiovascular conditions.
