HOMI 2022 China Omnichannel Healthcare Marketing Innovation Summit Concludes Successfully in Shanghai

Driven by the triple catalysts of the pandemic, policy reforms, and market dynamics, online end-to-end services covering diagnosis, prescription, and payment are gradually gaining stronger legal support and technical assurance. For traditional healthcare enterprises, it has become an inevitable trend to optimize in-hospital operations, expand out-of-hospital services, and penetrate the grassroots medical market through an omnichannel model. This wave will also emerge as a new strategic opportunity for healthcare companies to seize the initiative and capture market share in the new round of competition.

On August 9–10, the two-day 2022 China Healthcare Omnichannel Marketing Innovation Summit (HOMI) concluded successfully in Shanghai. Centered on strategic innovation in healthcare omnichannel marketing, this year’s summit brought together industry experts to explore how pharmaceutical and medical device companies can achieve omnichannel marketing and engagement; how to optimize in-hospital operations while competing effectively in out-of-hospital settings and tapping into the primary care market; how to strategically position themselves in e-commerce and internet hospitals; how to build an integrated healthcare ecosystem that connects providers, pharmaceuticals, insurance, and patients; and how to address pain points in digital marketing through public-private domain synergy and provider-patient linkage, thereby helping healthcare enterprises establish a second growth curve.

HOMI 2022 attracted over 200 in-person attendees to jointly explore how to harness the momentum of digital healthcare and secure future success.

Below are some highlights from the keynote speeches by our distinguished guests. We invite you to take an exclusive first look!

“Practical Exploration of the Transformation to an Omnichannel Marketing Model”

Liu Qian, Vice President & Head of Omnichannel Business Unit, AstraZeneca

"Omni-channel" primarily refers to the strategy in the pharmaceutical industry of expanding a company's market reach following volume-based procurement (VBP) and national reimbursement negotiations for innovative drugs, thereby mitigating external shocks. This encompasses all sales channels, ranging from core hospitals to broader markets, as well as out-of-hospital markets and online platforms, and can also refer to omni-channel sources of revenue.

The broader market holds greater importance than the core market because the projected annual growth rate for the core market is only 2%–3%, whereas the retail and terminal markets are expected to achieve significantly higher five-year growth rates. This implies that any ambitious pharmaceutical company should not neglect opportunities in the broader market beyond the core segments.

To achieve success in omnichannel marketing, companies should first prioritize the effective operation of core hospitals, as these institutions play a pivotal role in shaping patient perceptions and serve as the primary drivers for establishing standardized diagnosis and treatment protocols. Secondly, it is essential to effectively manage the out-of-hospital market. Finally, integrating online internet elements into offline channels can help compensate for limitations in human resource coverage and expand reach into the vast grassroots market.

The advocacy for prioritizing channels in the broad market and the out-of-hospital market is driven by three main reasons. First, market segmentation: hospitals are stratified to formulate differentiated strategies. Second, capability enhancement: through vertical integration and alignment, mindsets are reshaped and departmental capabilities are improved, thereby driving development in surrounding areas. Third, resource integration: product portfolios are expanded, partnerships are sought, and corresponding resources are matched to efficiently meet the demands of county-level markets.

"Exploration of Omni-Channel Marketing in Precision Medicine"

Liu Yan, Chief Business Officer, Genetron Health (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.

Reflections on Omnichannel Marketing in Precision Medicine: Within the field of genetic testing, omnichannel marketing efforts are predominantly directed toward physicians, pathologists, and clinical laboratories. Meanwhile, the patient-centric paradigm is still evolving.

Digitalization plays a critically important role in the genetic testing sector. Within the entire ecosystem, there is an aspiration to leverage digital tools to continuously enhance corporate operational efficiency. Therefore, a patient-centric approach should be adopted to build and earn the trust of patients and their families from the perspectives of genetic testing and precision medicine. This will enable them to easily understand the necessity of genetic testing and the benefits it offers.

Additionally, traditional genetic testing reports are complex and difficult to understand. Digital tools and methods can be leveraged to facilitate the interpretation of these reports for patients and their families, explaining the implications of the genetic mutations mentioned and helping them identify actionable options for clinical treatment.

It is worth considering how omnichannel marketing’s digital strategies can be further developed and evolved in the field of precision medicine, particularly with regard to patient awareness, accessibility, and affordability. Meanwhile, in the realms of new product iteration and research and development, leveraging artificial intelligence and various algorithms can help further reduce testing costs, with the ultimate goal of making medical expenses more affordable for patients. In addition, efforts should be made to formalize hospital billing for genetic testing and include such tests within the scope of basic medical insurance and commercial health insurance coverage, thereby significantly enhancing patient affordability.

"How Can Pharmaceutical Companies Enter the New Model of Internet Healthcare by Combining Product Life Cycles?"

Chen Hua, CEO of Huiyi Tianxia

The Six Most Common Services in Internet Healthcare: Follow-up Consultations and Repeat Prescriptions, Chronic Disease Management, Patient Education, Remote Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Consultations, Products and Insurance, and Offline Services. We are currently in an exploratory phase that is patient-centered, with the attending physician serving as the pivotal point. If a strong connection is established between the attending physician and the patient, enabling frequent interactions on the platform, all related medical services and products will become more viable.

Taking follow-up consultations and repeat purchases as an example, if the follow-up is conducted by the same attending physician who previously saw the patient in person, the physician will have a thorough understanding of the patient’s condition. In offline service settings, if there is a strong online connection between the doctor and the patient, enabling the doctor to gain sufficient insight into the patient’s status, the patient can immediately schedule an appointment when offline care is needed. This creates a highly scientific and seamless closed-loop healthcare process. Furthermore, whether for chronic disease management, patient education, or recommendations for products and insurance, suggestions made by physicians who are familiar with the patient’s condition are more scientifically grounded, thereby increasing patient acceptance of medical advice.

“Embracing Digitalization to Create New Growth Opportunities for Healthcare Brands”

Wu Youran, Head of Digital Health, IQVIA & Puri Life Sciences

In the past, pharmaceutical brands may have allocated substantial resources to in-hospital channels. However, under the dual pressures of national medical insurance reimbursement policies and Volume-Based Procurement (VBP), it is evident that resources are gradually shifting toward online platforms, or that out-of-hospital retail channels are undergoing transformation—with a portion moving to traditional offline pharmacies and another portion migrating to online commercial channels. Consequently, amid payment pressures, two significant issues have emerged from the strategies implemented by brands. First, it is worth noting whether brands, i.e., pharmaceutical companies, possess direct access to patient traffic. Second, how the role and value of physicians will be manifested in out-of-hospital settings in the future remains a key question.

Therefore, it is necessary to introduce a new term: “private domain.” Currently, brands and many enterprises are actively developing their private-domain strategies. For instance, pharmaceutical sales representatives hold certain patient resources, while physicians also maintain extensive patient bases. For physicians, possessing patient resources reflects their professional value and influence. Once they recognize this, they seek to retain greater control over these patient resources, giving rise to the concept of the “private domain.”

The importance of private-domain ecosystems is highlighted primarily because they offer the potential to drive more profound reforms in the healthcare industry. Deep Healthcare comprises three key components: deep digitalization, deep learning, and deep empathy. The future of healthcare, or Deep Healthcare, must not only achieve deep digitalization but also realize digitalization infused with deep empathy. Building upon deep digitalization through deep learning, we should allocate space for humanity and incorporate empathetic elements. By constructing structured private-domain ecosystems, we can effectively organize physician-patient relationships and establish trust.

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To date, ECV Digital Healthcare has successfully hosted six editions of the China Digital Healthcare Industry Summit.

The summit aims to gain insights into the latest developments in the international healthcare industry through the lens of digital transformation! Focusing on hot topics such as strategic digital transformation in healthcare, digital therapeutics, digital growth for pharmaceutical and medical device companies under the Volume-Based Procurement (VBP) framework, digital management of chronic diseases, medical technology innovation, and digital marketing and retail innovation for medical devices, we will jointly explore how to navigate the wave of digital healthcare and secure future success.

Past industry summits have gathered leaders from the internet healthcare sector, including Baidu Health, WeDoctor, Tencent Health, and JD Health; pharmaceutical giants such as AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Novartis, Merck & Co., and BeiGene; and medical device representatives like Siemens Healthineers, Bristol Myers Squibb, Medtronic, and Stryker. These events present guests with the most cutting-edge industry trends and provide in-depth analysis of the most impactful insights.

The 2022 China Healthcare Omnichannel Marketing Innovation Summit (HOMI) concluded successfully in Shanghai on August 9–10, 2022. The summit aimed to harness the power of omnichannel innovation and generate momentum for new markets in healthcare marketing. Embracing change, breaking through barriers, and achieving win-win outcomes, it ushered in a new chapter for the healthcare industry.