Jinan Partners with WeDoctor to Build Dual Platforms for Internet-Based Healthcare and Traditional Chinese Medicine Trading

On July 16, the Administrative Committee of Jinan High-Tech Industrial Development Zone (hereinafter referred to as “Jinan High-Tech Zone”), representing the City of Jinan, signed a cooperation agreement with Weiyi Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Weiyi”). This marks a deepening upgrade in the collaboration between Jinan City and Weiyi. Both parties will leverage digitalization to integrate medical services, pharmaceuticals, and health insurance, focusing on building two key platforms: an internet-based comprehensive health platform and an internet-based traditional Chinese medicine trading platform. These initiatives aim to drive the digital transformation of the healthcare industry.

Liu Qiang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Jinan Municipal Party Committee, and Yu Haitian, Deputy Secretary of the Jinan Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Jinan, met with Liao Jieyuan, Chairman and CEO of WeDoctor, and his delegation on behalf of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, and jointly witnessed the project signing ceremony.

Liu Qiang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Jinan Municipal Party Committee, and Yu Haitian, Deputy Secretary of the Jinan Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Jinan, on behalf of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, met with Liao Jieyuan, Chairman and CEO of WeDoctor, and his delegation.

In 2021, the Shandong Provincial Government issued the “Shandong Province’s 14th Five-Year Plan for Building a Digitally Strong Province,” proposing to “comprehensively promote digital transformation and development across all sectors of the economy and society, accelerate the construction of a digitally strong province, and cultivate new advantages for high-quality development in Shandong.” As Shandong’s strategic development hub and a national model of a modernized, strong provincial capital, Jinan is seizing major opportunities presented by digitalization, network connectivity, and smart technologies, accelerating its role as a leader in the transition from old to new growth drivers and establishing itself as a new highland for the national digital economy. Jinan High-Tech Zone has proactively integrated into the city’s forward-looking industrial layout, facilitating the establishment and growth of more premium resources and industry-leading companies in Jinan.

WeDoctor is China’s largest digital healthcare platform. As of June 2022, WeDoctor had connected nearly 8,000 hospitals nationwide and registered approximately 300,000 physicians. It operates 34 internet hospitals across China, 19 of which have integrated local medical insurance payment systems. Leveraging its mature digital healthcare infrastructure, WeDoctor has scaled its core “Digital Health Community” initiatives in multiple regions nationwide. Driven by industry dynamics such as the acceleration of digital adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic and reforms in medical insurance payment methods, the company has sustained rapid growth in both business operations and revenue.

Over the past two years, internet-based comprehensive health platforms in Shandong, with Jinan as their hub, have increasingly demonstrated their value to public welfare and their role as an industrial benchmark. In April 2020, WeDoctor, together with Jinan High-Tech Holdings and other institutions, jointly launched the Shandong Internet Comprehensive Health Service Platform. The platform has since become a primary gateway for medical care and health services for residents of Shandong, covering all 16 prefecture-level cities across the province. It has provided cumulative services to insured individuals 18 million times and served nearly 2 million patients with chronic diseases. Leveraging internet hospitals integrated with medical insurance reimbursement, the platform has established nearly 50 digital chronic disease management centers in cities such as Jinan, Tai’an, and Weifang. These centers provide continuous digital chronic disease management services that combine in-hospital and out-of-hospital care, as well as online and offline support. Furthermore, enrollment in “Qilu Bao,” a supplementary medical insurance product introduced by the Shandong Internet Comprehensive Health Service Platform, has continued to grow over the past two years, effectively enhancing healthcare access and health security for the general public.

Leveraging digitalization, WeDoctor has fostered collaboration among medical, pharmaceutical, insurance, elderly care, and financial institutions in Jinan, generating significant industrial agglomeration effects. WeDoctor established the Shandong Bianque Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Health Industry Group, a digital innovation consortium for the TCM industry in Jinan. By adopting the “Internet + Medical Insurance + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals” model, the group has innovated TCM transactions and health services. In July 2020, the Shandong Provincial Healthcare Security Administration, together with the healthcare security administrations of twelve other provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities—including Tianjin and Inner Mongolia—initiated the formation of China’s first inter-provincial alliance for the procurement of traditional Chinese medicines (and medicinal materials). This alliance has since merged with the TCM (medicinal materials) procurement branch of the Sanming Procurement Alliance (National) to become the Inter-Provincial Alliance for the Procurement of Traditional Chinese Medicines (and Medicinal Materials) under the Sanming Procurement Alliance (National). Relying on the Shandong Internet Trading Center for Traditional Chinese Medicines (and Medicinal Materials), it facilitates innovative trading practices. With this trading platform as its core, the initiative integrates upstream planting bases and production area resources to ensure direct supply of authentic medicinal herbs and refined decoction pieces. Downstream, it leverages TCM medical consortia to promote the large-scale industrialization of TCM product series and in-hospital preparations, thereby achieving a closed-loop layout of the TCM industrial chain through a “one body, two wings” strategy.

This signing further expands the scope and depth of cooperation between Jinan City and WeDoctor. In the future, WeDoctor will be based in the Jinan High-tech Zone, better leverage the advantages of its digital healthcare platform, and further implement and improve the construction of its “dual platforms” in Shandong: the Internet-based comprehensive health platform and the Internet-based Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) trading platform. Meanwhile, by leveraging the industrial driving effect of WeDoctor’s digital healthcare platform, it will promote the convergence of various resources and factors in the general health industry, boost the rapid development of the digital health industry in Shandong and across China, and make new contributions to improving regional public services, as well as to economic and industrial development.

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During the meeting, Liu Qiang stated that Jinan attaches great importance to the development of the digital economy and the big health industry, and has achieved fruitful cooperation with WeDoctor. Currently, Jinan has entered a new stage of high-quality development, with coordinated and balanced economic and social progress. The city boasts strong scientific and technological innovation capabilities, robust momentum in digital empowerment, and a solid foundation for talent support, providing highly advantageous conditions for WeDoctor’s further development in Jinan. Jinan will create a favorable business environment for all market entities, including WeDoctor, provide strong guarantees and support, and share the opportunities and benefits of its high-quality development.

“Jinan has provided a favorable development environment for the digital healthcare industry. WeDoctor’s ‘dual-platform’ model originated in Jinan and grew here,” said Liao Jieyuan. He added that, moving forward, WeDoctor will further leverage the advantages of its digital platforms by continuously deepening the “dual-platform” model to support the development of the digital health industry in Jinan and Shandong Province, creating a demonstration effect that can be replicated and promoted across more regions nationwide.