What Should the 'Central Kitchen' of IVD Medical Testing Services Look Like? An Exclusive Interview with Xiangrun Healthcare
In April 2017, the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Construction and Development of Medical Consortia," which clearly stated: promote the sharing of regional medical resources, unify the allocation of resources such as medical technology, and maximize the efficiency of existing resources. Within medical consortia, centers for medical imaging, inspection and testing, sterile supply, and logistics services can be established to provide integrated services to all medical institutions within the consortium.
In March 2021, the State Council once again released the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, which emphasized expanding the supply of medical service resources with public medical institutions as the mainstay and non-public medical institutions as a supplement, promoting the coordinated development of online and offline public services, and extending the reach and coverage of high-quality public service resources.
Despite years of policy implementation and the rapid growth of the IVD industry driven by the pandemic in recent years, the sector remains characterized by a fragmented landscape with numerous manufacturers, distributors, and laboratories. Phenomena stemming from this structure—such as over-testing, relationship-based marketing, and excessively high gross margins—should no longer be tolerated.At its core, the goal is to achieve interconnectivity and resource sharing between “supply” and “demand.” Therefore, the large-scale, centralized development of inspection and testing centers represents both a prevailing trend of the times and an inevitable path for this reform.
What kind of comprehensive solution is required to establish a regional testing and examination center? VCBeat interviewed a leading domestic provider of integrated regional medical laboratory services.Shanghai Xiangrun Medical Technology Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as "Xiangrun Medical").
The company participated as a member of the editorial board and as one of the editors-in-chief in the compilation of the only two monographs currently available in the industry:"Construction and Management of Regional Laboratory Centers"、《Management of Sample Collection and Outsourced Testing at Regional Laboratory Centers》, and jointly pioneered the establishment of a nationwide “"Regional Medical Laboratory Center Director Management Training Course"。Xiangrun Medical is driving the construction and development of regional clinical laboratory centers with the spirit of a pioneer and the stance of a trailblazer.
Guo Haitao, Chairman and General Manager of Xiangrun MedicalMr. [Name] stated in the interview that, during his EMBA studies at CEIBS, the accumulation of insights and reflections on corporate strategy strengthened his conviction in “A company's long-term development should embody its social value attributes.” awareness. Mapping this perspective onto the IVD industry where it operates, and leveraging its extensive experience spanning upstream manufacturers, third-party testing services, and distribution chain services, along with a clear understanding of the trends in healthcare industry reform, Xiangrun Medical was established in May 2017 and secured angel-round financing led by PerkinElmer Life Sciences (Toujing Life) in September of the same year.
To serve the new healthcare system, team formation requires entirely new considerations.
Xiangrun Medical has built its core team in alignment with its strategic objectives, primarily focusing on three areas: distribution, diagnostics, and information technology.Senior and middle-level management of circulation chain companies with a holistic awareness of customer service scenarios; senior and middle-level management of third-party testing institutions with comprehensive knowledge of medical standards, quality control, and logistics services; and an information technology team with extensive experience in developing medical laboratory information systems. After more than four years of research, development, and project implementation focused on regional integrated laboratory services, the team has cumulatively developed systems such as the “Laboratory Information Management System,” “Laboratory Consumables Management System,” “Regional Medical Laboratory Information Platform,” and “Regional Specimen Logistics Management Platform,” as well as internet application platforms including “Xiangrun Medical Testing,” “Xiangrun Health,” and “Xiangrun Cloud Management.” The company has obtained over 30 software copyrights for related information systems. Furthermore, through practical visits to more than 200 counties and cities across China over the past four years, the team has deepened its understanding of the industry and pioneered the theoretical framework of the “Nine-Module Service Capability,” which transitions from strong central laboratory hubs to broad regional coverage in integrated medical laboratory services.
To establish a comprehensive, region-wide digital medical laboratory service system, Xiangrun Medical proposes the “1+3 System”: centered on regional hub hospitals, it builds three major platforms—Xiangrun Regional Laboratory Testing, Xiangrun Cloud Laboratory Testing, and Xiangrun Cloud Management—to effectively connect laboratory services, primary healthcare institutions, and manufacturers.
Xiangrun Medical, firstHelp Regional Central Hospitals Establish the General Hospital Laboratory Center of the Medical Consortium, providing laboratory renovation and quality system development services, while connecting with manufacturers to bundle equipment upgrades and the supply of reagents and other consumables, and offering services such as outsourced sample testing and cold-chain logistics for the testing center.
Xiangrun District Inspection is essentially a regional medical laboratory service platform that provides remote testing services to all healthcare institutions within the region, such as maternal and child health hospitals, traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, and township health centers.All projects are integrated within the local area network of the regional medical insurance system, where laboratory test data are aggregated, and specimens are transported to the Regional Laboratory Center via logistics services. This approach ensures security in three key areas: data safety, specimen integrity, and testing quality.
Xiangrun Cloud Lab is essentially an internet-based cloud laboratory service platform, primarily serving grassroots clinics and health stations to enable local residents to realize the vision of “receiving treatment for minor illnesses without leaving their villages.”First, regional central hospital laboratories are encouraged to establish online laboratory centers on the Xiangrun APP. Physicians at primary healthcare institutions can create patient profiles in the system using their medical practitioner qualification certificates, select appropriate test items from the menu, and proceed with sample collection once the patient completes payment via QR code scanning. The system will then automatically notify logistics personnel to collect the samples from the clinic and transport them to the regional laboratory center. Upon completion of testing, physicians can log into the system to access the reports, enabling residents to receive high-precision “evidence-based medicine” services right at their doorstep.
Xiangrun Cloud Management is, in essence, a precision outsourced testing service platform. It primarily addresses the current concentration of advanced diagnostic technologies—such as genetic testing, protein testing, and specialized oncology diagnostics—in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.The platform connects third-party providers or laboratories specializing in precision diagnostics, remotely empowering municipal- and county-level people’s hospitals with their technical capabilities, while also helping these third-party testing organizations reduce regional business, marketing, and service costs.
Xiangrun Medical, through its service model of “One Center, Three Platforms,”It has strengthened the functions of the central laboratory at the lead hospital of the medical consortium, while expanding the breadth and depth of diagnostic testing capabilities. This has reduced business, logistics, and communication costs for testing institutions and manufacturers, achieving a direct link between supply and demand, and demonstrating to the industry the functions and responsibilities that an IVD “central kitchen” should fulfill.
As the “three-medical-linkage” reform advances, Shanghai Xiangrun Medical Technology Co., Ltd. has moved from the product architecture design phase into commercialization planning and industry awareness promotion.
Currently, Xiangrun Medical has established provincial-level joint venture platforms such as “Shaanxi Tianrun,” “Yunnan Xiangrun,” “Jiangxi Xiangrun,” and “Guangxi Xiangrun” through equity participation, and has already nationwideParticipated in the operational development ofNearly 60 County and City Inspection Centers, covering15 provinces across China, Given the public-sector reform nature of the projects, most are jointly signed with local governments, health commissions, and anchor hospitals, establishing supply chain and regional service partnerships.The service covers a population of over 50 million.。
Under China’s new healthcare reform roadmap for 2021–2025, the country will complete the functional establishment and implementation of 4,028 county-level medical communities and 120 regional medical centers. The healthcare market, services, and resources are undergoing rapid regional reorganization and restructuring. From the perspective of Xiangrun Medical, building regional clinical laboratory centers within medical communities, medical alliances, or healthcare groups; facilitating the decentralization of auxiliary diagnostic resources; and connecting supply and demand in the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) sector all hinge on leading regional hospitals’ comprehensive understanding of their current positioning and social responsibilities. National healthcare reforms mandate high-quality development in public hospitals, with tiered diagnosis and treatment, resource sharing, and rural revitalization closely interlinked. Therefore, engaging leadership at top-tier hospitals through effective communication and providing them with scientific, standardized support services are key to successfully implementing this reform.
Thus, it is easy to understand why Shanghai Xiangrun Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (Xiangrun Medical) has participated in the compilation of relevant monographs and promoted the establishment of training courses. Next month, the first session of the Regional Laboratory Center Management Training Course, jointly organized by Xiangrun Medical and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, will commence. Vice presidents and directors of clinical laboratories from nearly 40 regional leading hospitals across counties and cities in China will participate. Invitations for collaborative organization of the second and third sessions have already been received from health authorities in related provinces.
Among theseWhat is truly commendable is not only Shanghai Xiangrun Medical’s sense of social responsibility and commitment，These are feasible solutions implemented after they correctly recognized societal healthcare needs and earnestly understood the original intent of healthcare reform.。
In the future, Xiangrun Medical will continue to shoulder greater responsibilities in building regional clinical laboratory centers, steadfastly assisting the government in establishing a comprehensive, smart medical laboratory service system based on the “1+3 Model,” meeting multidimensional demands for medical testing services, and continuously upgrading this “IVD Central Kitchen.”