China Expands Grassroots Traditional Chinese Medicine Coverage Nationwide

China is accelerating the rollout of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) services across grassroots communities, backed by national healthcare strengthening initiatives. According to state media reports, county-level TCM hospitals reached 2,238 by the end of 2025, with primary-level TCM clinic coverage nearing 98 percent. Local authorities are increasingly pairing institutional expansion with home-visit programs for rural, elderly, and disabled patients, while connecting top urban specialty departments to community health centers to deliver localized chronic and rehabilitative care.

Grassroots TCM expansion lowers healthcare costs and access barriers for China's rapidly aging rural population and chronic disease patients. It serves as a practical pillar for China's tiered diagnosis and treatment system by handling routine care at the community level.

China is accelerating the integration of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) into primary healthcare networks, deploying home consultations and specialist partnerships to bring care closer to residents, according to state media reports on the implementation of the national Action Plan for Traditional Chinese Medicine under the Primary Healthcare Strengthening Project. Official figures indicate that by the end of 2025, China had established 2,238 county-level TCM hospitals nationwide. Coverage of dedicated TCM clinics, known as TCM halls (zhongyiguan), reached nearly 98 percent across primary healthcare institutions. Furthermore, 99 percent of township health centers and community healthcare centers are now equipped to provide TCM services. Staffing levels have also advanced, with primary TCM halls achieving a 95.5 percent staffing rate for qualified TCM physicians. Beyond facility benchmarks, local governments are piloting decentralized service models targeting vulnerable demographics, particularly elderly and disabled populations in rural areas who face mobility barriers. In Changshu, Jiangsu Province, grassroots authorities have instituted village-level "TCM pavilions" (zhongyige) that offer weekly home-delivered care, including tailored TCM rehabilitation packages for bedridden patients suffering from chronic neurological and muscular conditions. In urban areas, tertiary and district-level specialty hospitals are linking with neighborhood clinics to bring advanced care directly into communities. In Beijing's Fengtai District, the local TCM hospital's burn, plastic surgery, and wound repair department—a designated municipal key specialty—has partnered with 27 community health service centers to deliver specialized wound care at the neighborhood level, resolving the last-mile bottleneck for patients needing ongoing outpatient procedures. These combined initiatives reflect a broader systemic push to divert routine rehabilitative, chronic, and elderly care away from congested top-tier urban hospitals and anchor essential health management within neighborhood and village clinics.