From Relational Embeddedness to Structural Embeddedness: Mechanisms and Pathways of Artificial Intelligence Integration into the Healthcare Service System: A Grounded Theory-Based Policy Text Analysis

Corresponding author: GUO Senyu, 13146976599@163.com

DOI: 10.12201/bmr.202508.00039

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  Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating the digital transformation of the healthcare service system, with policy systems playing an increasingly prominent role in guiding technological innovation and governance reform. However, there is still a lack of systematic theoretical explanation for how AI technologies achieve deep integration under the collaborative effect of diverse policy objectives and policy tools. Drawing on national-level AI healthcare policy texts in China from 2015 to 2025, this study proposes an analytical framework of policy goals-policy instruments-embedding pathways. It systematically reveals the staged evolution and underlying mechanisms of AI technology integration in healthcare. The findings show: first, China’s AI healthcare policy system has progressed from strategic guidance and scenario-driven development to regulatory governance, demonstrating a dynamic adaptability to the integration of complex technologies; second, a dynamic coupling mechanism has formed between policy goals and instruments, achieving a coordinated balance among technological innovation, risk governance, and social value; third, the embedding pathway has evolved from exogenous, relationship-based integration to endogenous, structure-based integration, characterized by a progressive mechanism of institutional empowerment-structural coupling-regulatory internalization. This research deepens the theoretical understanding of adaptive governance and institutional transformation for complex technologies, offering theoretical insights and practical references for optimizing AI healthcare policies and enhancing digital governance capacity.

  Key words: Artificial Intelligence; Healthcare Service System; Policy Tools; Technology Embedding; Grounded Theory

  Submit time: 18 August 2025

  Copyright: The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted biomedRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
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