Tencent Health and AstraZeneca's Scan-to-Use Medication Platform Surpasses 5 Million Users

Source:HIT Experts NetworkContributed by: tencent healthcare

Scan the QR code on the medicine box using WeChat's "Scan" function to directly access Tencent Healthcare's medicine cabinet, where services such as disease education, medication reminders, prescription renewal, and medicine purchase are instantly available. Recently, Tencent Healthcare and AstraZeneca announced that by scanning the QR code on medicine boxes, they have established patient-centered full-cycle medication services in the fields of respiratory asthma, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, serving a cumulative user base of over 5 million.

"The Sixth National Health Services Statistical Survey Special Report" shows that the number of people with chronic diseases in China has exceeded 400 million. The incidence rate among people aged 15 and above is over 34%, and for those aged 65 and above, it exceeds 60%. Due to the long treatment duration of chronic diseases, medication management for chronic conditions faces numerous challenges, especially for middle-aged and elderly patients. Health and medication management are even more difficult: not only do they often forget to take medications, miss doses, or repeat dosing, but a lack of disease and care knowledge also leads to poor disease control. Additionally, they face difficulties in having convenient and timely follow-up visits and prescription renewals.

According to a user survey of Tencent Healthcare's medicine kit, nearly 50% of users who pay attention to diabetes and cardiovascular disease medication services are over 50 years old. Features such as medication reminders, disease education, and finding nearby pharmacies are the "most popular." In contrast, in the respiratory asthma field, users tend to be younger, with the 25 to 49 age group accounting for 50%. Disease education and medication guidance have become essential needs for users.

Based on the commonalities and pain points of patients' needs, Tencent Healthcare has transformed the function of scanning medicine boxes via WeChat into a health medicine cabinet. This initiative aims to help patients better follow medical advice, take medications on time and in full dosage, thereby achieving better therapeutic effects for disease relief and accomplishing treatment goals.

Relying on a digital tool matrix and leveraging the integration of digital supply with offline resources, tencent healthcare's medicine box focuses on three major scenarios based on the full-process needs of patients from diagnosis, treatment to follow-up.

InMedication Usage ScenariosTencent Healthcare Medicine Box utilizes WeChat's "Scan" function to provide patients with one-stop services for medication, drug inquiry, and drug purchase, including drug verification traceability, drug information and instruction queries, medication reminders, medication guidance, health management, and more. By deploying practical tools along the patient’s behavioral path through “multi-channel companionship,” Tencent Healthcare Medicine Box aims to improve medication adherence among target users. For instance, the "medication reminder" can remind patients to take their medicine on time daily, while "drug instructions" offer a built-in magnifying glass for reading drug package inserts. Additionally, a voice broadcast feature for drug instructions has been designed, and an AI-powered virtual assistant provides medication guidance. This not only broadcasts drug instructions but also allows the virtual pharmacist to interact with patients and answer questions, aligning with China’s policy initiative in the "Pilot Work Plan for Aging-Friendly and Barrier-Free Reform of Drug Instructions" to address challenges such as insufficient patient understanding of drugs and high barriers to proper medication use.

InScience Popularization SceneTencent Healthcare Medicine Cabinet provides scientific, authoritative, and easy-to-understand disease awareness information, allowing patients to promptly access more professional knowledge about medicines, diseases, diet, exercise, and daily management, as well as diversified disease awareness content, including images, comics, videos, health quizzes, etc. Users can view updated disease awareness content through WeChat reminders, further enhancing their health awareness. Meanwhile, Tencent Healthcare Medicine Cabinet continuously improves user interaction experience by maintaining user engagement through an积分系统 (points system) and daily quizzes, making health awareness a part of users' daily habits.

InHealth Management Scenario, Refined health management services based on disease characteristics support tools such as medical insurance information inquiries, online consultations, online registration, and health monitoring, providing patients with more efficient, convenient, and essential health services to achieve full-cycle scientific and standardized self-health management. Taking cardiovascular diseases as an example, heart rate is an important objective indicator of sympathetic nerve activation. An increased heart rate can elevate the risk of sudden death. Hypertensive patients need to manage their heart rate through monitoring and follow-ups to ensure comprehensive cardiac protection. The Tencent Healthcare Medicine Box platform combines health management with science popularization and education, raising awareness about heart rate, starting from small actions like feeling one's pulse, to achieve better health management.

[Editor's Note: Xiao Qing]