Research on the Transformation Path of China’s Elderly Care Industry Driven by Cross-Border Healthcare under the National Strategy: An Exploration of Institutional Opening-Up Based on Japan’s Experience

Abstract

Against the backdrop of a “super-aged” society, China’s elderly care industry faces multiple challenges, including the absence of standards, shortages of professional personnel, and a narrow range of services. The state’s promotion of a high level of opening-up, especially the strategy centered on institutional opening-up, offers a historic opportunity to break through the bottlenecks of the elderly care industry by developing cross-border healthcare. Through a systematic comparison of the current status of the elderly care industry in China and Japan, this paper focuses on the institutional innovation and practices in the field of cross-border healthcare in the Lingang New Area of Shanghai. It reveals the bottlenecks currently faced by cross-border healthcare development in Lingang, including restrictions on cross-border data flows, an underdeveloped payment system, and an insufficient supply of specialized professionals ^[1]. The paper further demonstrates how cross-border healthcare can serve as a bridge connecting Japan’s advanced experience with China’s vast market. The study argues that, driven by cross-border healthcare, the systemic introduction and re-innovation of “technology–payment–talent–standards,” along with targeted recommendations for Lingang’s practical problems, can effectively promote the transformation of China’s elderly care industry toward high quality, intelligence, and internationalization, ultimately achieving a win–win outcome in terms of people’s livelihood improvement and industrial development ^[2].