Samsung has partnered with China-based payor Ping An Insurance to create a digital health platform, according to the Korea Herald. Samsung and Ping An will combine the payor's health services with Samsung digital health offerings, including the company's heart rate sensing smartphones and smartwatches, as well as Samsung's S Health app.

Ping An Insurance has insurance, banking, and financial businesses, and provides these services to 90 million customers.

The Korea Herald added that the Chinese government plans to create more health services that will be accessible online and via mobile devices to compensate for the country's shortage of providers. 

Samsung also reportedly partnered with Chinese firm Yonyou Software to develop a telemedicine service that patients will be able to use to discuss health issues without scheduling a face-to-face visit with a provider.

Samsung has also been working on a number of digital health products in the US. At the end of 2014, the company launched its open access development platform, which includes The Samsung Digital Health Platform on the software side and SimBand on the hardware side.

Samsung’s open platform goes significantly beyond the parameters of Apple HealthKit or Google Fit, which are similar platforms developed by Samsung's competitors. Samsung Chief Medical Officer and VP for Global Healthcare David Rhew told MobiHealthNews in December that as well as being a platform for developers to share data, Samsung’s initiative adds a hardware infrastructure and the capacity for developers to share and build upon one another’s algorithms.

Just a few months ago, Samsung announced a partnership with Partners HealthCare to co-develop mobile health solutions. Initially, the Boston-based integrated health system will work with the electronics giant to create chronic condition management software.

Apple, one of Samsung's competitors, recently launched its own remote patient monitoring offering in Asia. In April, Apple and IBM partnered with Japanese conglomerate Japan Post Group — building on the partnership the two tech companies announced last year –to provide Japanese senior citizens with iPads that they can use to manage their health. Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted to reporters that the rollout in Japan could lead to similar ones in other countries in the future.