Series 5 of the Top 50 Oral Healthcare Opportunities: 'Medical + Partners + Technology' Empowers Meivion Dental's High-Quality Growth

KPMG China’s Top 50 Private Dental Healthcare Enterprises is part of the KPMG China Healthcare 50 series. KPMG China has long maintained a close focus on the development trends of China’s healthcare industry. Through this public welfare initiative in the dental sector, it aims to identify outstanding benchmark enterprises in the dental healthcare market, facilitate the healthy growth of more high-quality private dental healthcare providers, and jointly explore new trends for the future development of China’s dental healthcare market from a global perspective, thereby supporting the transformation and rise of China’s dental healthcare industry.

To support the “Top 50 Private Dental Healthcare Enterprises in China” initiative, KPMG China has specially curated and launched the “Dental Top 50 Opportunities” series. This series focuses on enterprises across the upstream and downstream of the dental healthcare industry chain, exploring topics such as the current market environment, investment hotspots, and industrial transformation, to provide insights into the future development trends of the dental healthcare sector.

In this article, we share the latest interview from the “Top 50 Opportunities in Dentistry” series, presented in a four-question, four-answer format. The conversation features Zhi Xian Li, Audit Partner and Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences at KPMG China, in dialogue with Liya Zhu, Founding Partner and CEO of Meiya Dental Care.

Li Zhixian:Meiwei Dental is the first dental healthcare enterprise in China to develop under the DSO (Dental Support Organization) model. Adapting to local conditions and China’s national context, it has crafted a “Meiwei-Characteristic DSO” and innovatively introduced the “Business Partner” model. Last year, Meiwei Dental’s “First Business Partner Representative Conference” was grandly held at its group headquarters in Shanghai, marking the comprehensive upgrade of the Business Partner Program into the “Meiwei Star Program.” Please share with us the innovative aspects of the “Meiwei Star Program.”

Julia:Reflecting on my career journey since entering the oral healthcare industry, I have gradually transitioned from a clinician to a partner and entrepreneur. This experience has given me profound insights into the symbiotic relationship between dentists and dental chain organizations, highlighting the urgent need for synergy through a partnership model. The oral healthcare industry is constrained by a limited service radius, and chain expansion helps break down geographical barriers. However, a major pain point in the chain development of dental institutions is the attrition of high-quality dentists and core management personnel, which leads to instability in teams and organizational structures. The DSO (Dental Support Organization) model has emerged as a strategic solution to address these challenges.

In driving the development of the DSO model, the partnership model—serving as Meiyi’s core competitive advantage—has played a pivotal role. The evolution of Meiyi Dental’s partnership model can be delineated into three stages:

Five Years in the Making: The “Business Partner” Model Takes Shape.The so-called "Phase 1.0" builds upon the rapid initial accumulation of partners among outpatient clinics, physicians, city management centers, and headquarters. It starts from the genuine needs of dentists and dental chain organizations, adopting a "business partner" model to free dentists from administrative tasks such as HR management, financial and tax coordination, and marketing—areas where they typically lack expertise. This allows dentists to focus more effectively on high-value clinical care, truly achieving a "partner-centric" approach. From the perspective of dental chain organizations, introducing a partner incentive system enables self-driven management among physicians, effectively addressing the challenges of physician supervision. Furthermore, as dental chains reach a certain scale, they often face stagnation in expansion. By acquiring and merging with regional reputable brands operated by physicians themselves and developing core team members into partners, these chains can be empowered to achieve further scalable growth.

“Meiweixing Program”: A Partner System Advancing from “1.0” to “2.0”The pure business partner-oriented model suffers from various issues, such as a lack of sense of honor, limited management span, and blocked career advancement, making it difficult to achieve the ultimate goal of being “partner-centric.” The comprehensive upgrade of the “Meiwei Star Plan” aims to create a dual-drive model featuring both “veteran” and “new” partners. On one hand, it seeks to incentivize partners’ sense of ownership and empower them to participate more extensively in major decision-making, thereby fostering a sense of responsibility and enthusiasm for leadership and role modeling. On the other hand, it outlines a clear career progression roadmap for partners, establishes a capability-oriented rapid promotion mechanism, and cultivates “star” partners. By inheriting and reinforcing the team’s excellent qualities, the plan aims to build a robust and reliable talent pipeline, thereby providing the capability reserves necessary for the Group’s sustainable development.

Partner Ecosystem 3.0: Building an Empowerment Engine for Chain LayoutLooking ahead, Meiwei Dental will stride forward in its exploration of the partnership model and achieve steady, long-term growth on its path to chain-based development.

Based on this, Meiwei Dental is actively strategizing its dental chain brand layout. Focusing on the harmonious and symbiotic ecosystem between dentists and chain institutions, it has upgraded its Business Partner Program to the new “Meiwei Star Program,” transforming dentist partners and management partners into “stars” that illuminate Meiwei’s path toward chain expansion.

Li Zhixian:Last year, in order to further enhance medical management standards, Meiwei Dental established a “Dynamic Three-Tier Medical Management System,” comprising three levels of organizational structure: the Group Medical Management Committee, the Business Unit Medical Management Teams, and the Clinic (Hospital) Medical Management Teams. What changes has this system brought to Meiwei Dental?

Julia:Strengthening medical quality management is a key challenge for dental institutions to achieve long-term sustainability. As Meiwei Dental continues to expand and grow, the importance of enhancing medical quality management has become increasingly prominent. To comprehensively improve the lean management capabilities of medical teams, and drawing on Meiwei Dental’s profound industry insights and extensive experience in patient care, the Group has pioneered the development of a dynamic three-tier medical management system. This system centers on the construction of management organizations and is supported by three pillars: the Group Medical Management Committee, the Business Unit Medical Management Teams, and the Clinic-level Medical Management Teams.

The Group Medical Management Committee serves as the “central brain” for “operational command,” coordinating analysis to formulate “operational strategies” and adjusting them based on feedback from frontline staff. Business units and outpatient department medical management teams are responsible for agile dissemination and efficient execution, while a rigorous top-down supervisory mechanism is maintained throughout, with inspection results incorporated into performance evaluations. This approach fosters a robust medical management framework characterized by full employee engagement and coordinated oversight across the Group.

Dental healthcare institutions are driven by service quality and customer reputation; therefore, the top priority in medical management is to ensure the timely and efficient handling of adverse events. Leveraging a dynamic three-tier medical management system, when individual clinics encounter adverse events such as complaints or disputes, they must report them upward in a graded manner based on severity. The Group Medical Management Committee then conducts comprehensive analyses and provides specific resolution strategies, which frontline staff translate into concrete actions through effective communication with patients. This approach truly achieves real-time response, vertical coordination, and seamless integration, establishing an efficient, end-to-end medical quality control system.

Based on this, Meiwei Dental remains true to its original mission, strategically implementing a forward-thinking, dynamic three-tier medical management system. This framework aims to efficiently facilitate seamless upward feedback from clinics and flexible downward guidance from the group, always empathizing with patients by addressing their concerns and alleviating their difficulties.

Li Zhixian:Meiwei Dental has always placed a high priority on information technology infrastructure, independently developing the “Wei Xiaomei Medical Cloud HIS” since its inception. After several years of upgrades and iterations, the system has matured into a comprehensive solution now covering approximately 95% of the clinics and hospitals under the group. Please share your insights on digital diagnosis and treatment as well as refined management.

Julia:With the deepening advancement of digital technologies, dental healthcare institutions have been actively initiating their digital transformation. Since its inception, Meiyi Dental has focused on digital infrastructure development, establishing the construction of an information technology platform as the group’s top-level strategic priority and independently developing the “Wei Xiaomei” Medical Cloud Hospital Information System (HIS). This system seamlessly integrates the group’s customized management and operational philosophy, significantly enhancing clinical efficiency and the precision of clinic management.

Recognizing the need for tailored, personalized diagnosis and treatment plans, patients seek dedicated private dentists to address oral health issues across various life stages. Starting with clinical services, the Wei Xiaomei Medical Cloud HIS system focuses on oral health concerns throughout the patient’s entire lifecycle. It meticulously records personalized information—such as treatment histories and individual preferences—into the system. By integrating with an intelligent diagnostic and therapeutic platform, it delivers a professional, convenient, comfortable, and warm service experience for patients.

Meanwhile, recognizing the Group’s need to manage a decentralized network of hundreds of clinics and implement standardized, regulated workflows, the Weixiaomei Medical Cloud HIS system focuses on clinic management and emphasizes a refined remote management model. By efficiently transmitting detailed task assignments and specific operational procedures to various functional roles through the system, it minimizes human intervention in intermediate processes, thereby enhancing operational efficiency while significantly reducing operational costs and management risks.

Looking ahead, the path of digital transformation will undoubtedly be fraught with challenges and is unlikely to yield substantial returns in the short term. Nevertheless, Meiwei Dental is committed to leading industry change by further exploring how artificial intelligence can be leveraged to create more personalized user experiences and more refined management models.

Li Zhixian:In recent years, the biotechnology and healthcare sectors have been on a fast track, remaining hotspots for investor interest. During corporate development, there may be differing or even conflicting perspectives between investors and other stakeholders, such as the companies themselves, regarding growth strategies. Consequently, investors often have pronounced expectations for rapid financing or initial public offerings (IPOs) in pursuit of superior investment returns. How does Meiwei Dental manage investor expectations during its development process?

Julia:Throughout the development of China’s dental healthcare industry, investors have gradually embraced the concept of sustainable investment. They are able to identify promising investment opportunities with a long-term perspective, gain a deep understanding of the industrial chain, market opportunities, and their own capabilities, and allocate sufficient resources to drive industry growth, thereby fostering a relatively rational investment climate. The development of the pharmaceutical and medical industry typically requires substantial capital investment and involves a longer payback period.

Meiwei Dental was fortunate to have partnered with Fortune Capital (VCBeat) starting from its Series A financing round in the early stages of development, relying on its support to navigate the initial growth phase. Guided by Fortune Capital’s strategic vision and long-term commitment, the two parties maintained a steadfast partnership, laying a solid foundation for Meiwei Dental’s Series B financing. The turbulence brought about by the three-year pandemic forced investment institutions to reevaluate and adjust their established investment strategies or business models, necessitating that companies undergo rigorous testing in an increasingly complex market environment.

In communications with investment institutions, dental healthcare companies should craft their capital market narratives by starting with corporate strategy, articulating a clear business model, and presenting a comprehensive value creation theme, thereby enabling investors to understand, clearly comprehend, and envision future potential. Corporate executives and shareholders should not hesitate to openly express their selectivity and preferences regarding investment partners, thus avoiding misalignments in the understanding of the company’s development direction and reducing costs associated with subsequent iterative coordination and engagement.

Li Zhixian:Driven by capital operations, dental healthcare enterprises may face numerous challenges, including the attrition of technical and managerial talent. Has Meivei Dental encountered similar issues? If so, how has it proactively responded?

Julia:Healthcare professionals who can effectively apply their expertise to treat patients in their daily practice inevitably derive satisfaction and a strong sense of accomplishment, thereby enabling dentists to focus more value on the medical services themselves. For healthcare enterprises, Meowei Dental’s seven-year development history is relatively short, and it remains in an early stage of development. From a perspective of interests, it is reasonable for partners and employees to have high expectations for the Group; however, they should adopt a holistic view in planning, pursue long-term development, work hand in hand with the Group, and jointly maximize value and benefits for all parties involved.

Li Zhixian

Li Zhixian

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