MedLink Celebrates 8 Years of Refined Growth in Internet Healthcare with Focus on Serious Medical Services

At a Medlinker disease management research findings review meeting, Wang Shirui signaled for everyone to stay behind after the session. He reiterated that Medlinker operates an internet hospital, with “hospital” being the core concept. Since the fundamental mission of a hospital is to provide effective medical care, Medlinker will continue steadfastly along this path, committed to seeing it through to the end.

This perspective on Wang Shirui, Medlinker’s founder and CEO, has long been well understood within the company. As early as four or five years ago, when the industry was experiencing robust growth, Wang Shirui stated that Medlinker would advance into serious medical care, embracing a mindset of “sitting on the cold bench.” At that time, while other third-party internet healthcare platforms were advancing rapidly, Medlinker chose to “dig deep,” opting for a “serious medical care” path that required greater investment of effort and patience.

In the quest to strike a balance between the fast-paced world of capital and the slow-cooked realm of healthcare, pressure is inevitable. Wang Shirui, who completed an eight-year combined bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral program in medical school and served as a research scholar at Harvard University, clearly understands that the medical profession requires long-term dedication. He remarked at that conference—

“If internet healthcare platforms do not engage in clinical care, they will fundamentally lack efficiency and value, and will soon be left behind by the times. We must pioneer new paths for the entire industry, calm our minds, and truly delve into every specific disease area. Regardless of external opinions or market fluctuations, we will devote all our resources and energy to enhancing the healthy lifespan of humanity as a whole. Even if this process is challenging, it does not matter; what counts is whether what we do is meaningful and has a future.”

In 2022, Medlinker entered its eighth year of development. Over the past eight years, we have experienced both highs and lows. It is precisely through these ups and downs that Medlinker has come to understand what it truly seeks. Today, with a more focused business strategy, this growing “child” has become more composed, patient, and resolute in executing its will.

Perhaps it was precisely this weighty academic credential that enabled Wang Shirui to recognize, at an earlier stage, the predicament faced by most Chinese physicians. Instead of following the conventional path to become a dentist, he has sought to rescue more “selves” like his own. He has remarked on numerous occasions, “Chinese doctors are under immense pressure; they must endure excessive workloads daily while also exhausting themselves in the effort to publish academic papers.”

At that time, Wang Shirui, having witnessed the thriving ecosystem of vertical online communities for physicians abroad, drafted his business plan (BP) on a flight back to China from the United States. In the BP, he wrote that the company would “take physicians as the entry point to become the hub of healthcare internet.” This business plan not only served as the foundational blueprint for Medlinker’s development but also guided every step the company took in its future growth.

In September 2013, the State Council issued the “Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Health Service Industry,” proposing that “all sectors not explicitly prohibited by laws and regulations shall be opened to social capital, with the scope of opening continuously expanded.” At that time, the “Internet Plus” trend was at its peak. The application of “Internet Plus” in the healthcare sector, in particular, attracted significant investment interest.

The internet healthcare industry is undergoing constant change. However, for physicians who are heavily reliant on the public hospital system, simply moving their services online does not resolve the current dilemmas facing healthcare. For the general public, internet healthcare was once a novel concept, and misunderstanding was common. This situation also posed significant recruitment challenges for Medlinker.

Xiao Yu, Medlinker’s employee #1 who remains with the company, has firsthand experience of this. After joining in 2014, she helped recruit staff and frequently encountered candidates who failed to show up for scheduled interviews. “What the company was doing at the time was relatively novel, and many people were unfamiliar with it, so we faced significant challenges in recruitment initially. Some candidates outright declined our offers, while others had concerns about the industry being too new; despite positive discussions, they ultimately chose not to join Medlinker.”

Even so, Medlinker has continued to attract successive waves of like-minded “partners” through a certain idealistic appeal.

Zhang Yue, now the Head of Human Resources and Administration, joined Medlinker in 2015. During her interview with Wang Shirui, who was dressed casually in a T-shirt, shorts, and canvas shoes, she felt an inexplicable affinity for this unpretentious leader driven by ambition. “Striving for human health feels profoundly sacred,” she recalled. This conviction led her to decline another job offer and join Medlinker. Fu Qiang, formerly employed at a major internet company, was similarly moved by Wang Shirui’s “anxiety stemming from his medical aspirations” and chose to dedicate himself to the healthcare industry to realize his professional value. Although he initially felt an urge to “run away” upon reviewing his own code the next day, his sense of pride kept him on board, and he gradually developed a deep attachment to Medlinker. Stories like these are plentiful.

In fact, like other internet startups, the hardships of starting up were inevitable. However, driven by a shared dream, many people worked tirelessly to gradually shape Medlinker into its initial form—a social platform for physicians.

Employees from Medlinker’s early days recall that working late into the night, often until 2 or 3 a.m., was the norm. When exhaustion from overtime became overwhelming, they would take a short break to play games and unwind before resuming work. Witnessing doctors actively discussing clinical cases on the platform was a significant source of motivation that kept them going. It is said that “Sister Dan,” a medical doctorate holder from West China Hospital, who was primarily responsible for reviewing professional medical content, worked so relentlessly that her colleagues found it hard to keep up, jokingly describing her as being “powered by passion.”

At that time, Medlinker rapidly accumulated a pool of tens of thousands of physicians by adopting a strategy that emphasized both online and offline operations, thereby establishing its leading position in the realm of real-name academic social networking for doctors. Subsequently, it further cultivated an academic atmosphere and expanded its influence by selectively inviting 1,000 attending physicians and above from top-tier (Grade A tertiary) hospitals across China to join the Medlinker Physician Community and regularly sharing high-quality case studies.

Between 2016 and 2017, the industry witnessed several major events.

On the one hand, influenced by high-profile online news events, external stakeholders—particularly the general public—have begun to adopt a cautious stance toward the development of internet healthcare.

On the other hand, policy regulation has also tightened. In 2016, the then China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), now the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), suspended the pilot program for online retail of pharmaceuticals by third-party platforms. In May 2017, drafts of the “Administrative Measures for Internet Diagnosis and Treatment (Trial)” and the “Opinions on Promoting the Development of Internet Medical Services” were leaked, which further stated that “without approval from the health department of the State Council, local governments shall not independently approve virtual medical institutions. Internet hospitals, cloud hospitals, network hospitals, and similar entities approved prior to the issuance of these Measures shall be revoked within 15 days after their issuance.”

Changes in the external market and policy environment, coupled with unclear profitability models, have led most investors to adopt a wait-and-see approach toward internet healthcare investments, resulting in a capital winter.

At virtually the same time, Medlinker was pursuing further exploration to identify the true value alignment between the internet and healthcare, steadily advancing into the more complex depths of the medical field. During that period, internet hospitals within the industry primarily focused on general consultations and lightweight medical inquiries. For Medlinker, however, this was not their intended direction. Seeking differentiated development, Medlinker aimed to find a more rational approach to serving patients, exploring paths characterized by greater depth, higher technical barriers, increased integration complexity, and accountability for patient outcomes. Ultimately, they identified their path as whole-course disease management for patients—benefiting a broad patient population by providing comprehensive care that encompasses medical screening and testing, diagnosis and treatment, and rehabilitation.

In fact, Medlinker’s expansion of medical services by leveraging the physician resources accumulated on its platform has long been evident. In 2016, Medlinker briefly pivoted to facilitating traveling surgical specialists (“flying knife” services), and in October of the same year, it officially upgraded its physician social networking platform into a comprehensive physician service platform. As the industry explored the internet hospital model, Medlinker concurrently established the initial framework of an internet hospital.

In March 2017, with the issuance of the internet hospital license in Yinchuan, Medlinker’s Internet Hospital Open Platform was officially launched, providing services such as online consultations, laboratory and imaging tests, and online medication purchases. In April 2018, Medlinker established the first infectious disease department among internet hospitals and launched its self-developed hepatitis C patient management system. In October of the same year, Medlinker’s first hepatitis C patient was fully cured and discharged from the hospital.

To strengthen its capabilities in internet-based chronic disease management, Medlinker underwent an organizational restructuring in early 2021, upgrading its Chronic Disease Management Center to a Department of Specialties. This move marked Medlinker’s transition from generalized chronic disease management to disease-specific, full-course care management, delving deeper into the complex realm of internet healthcare to better serve physicians and patients. However, this initiative was misinterpreted. Citing information from alleged insiders, external observers viewed the organizational adjustment as a divestment of business units and workforce reductions. Consequently, Medlinker began to reevaluate its talent development strategy.

Internally, Medlinker continues to pursue a dual strategy: on one hand, it remains committed to recruiting talent who share its vision and values; on the other, it prioritizes the development and cultivation of internal personnel. Take Chen Junsheng as an example. He joined Medlinker in 2014 as a junior-year intern writing code. Today, many developers still review the code he wrote back then, praising its neatness and clarity. Now, he has risen to become Vice President of Medlinker.

Perhaps Zhang Yue, the Head of Human Resources and Administration, has a deep understanding of this. During her seven years at Medlinker, after reviewing what may have been tens of thousands of resumes, she noted, “Those who are willing to stand by the company through thick and thin share a common trait—they believe in what the company is doing and prioritize long-term development.” Alignment with the company’s values, particularly maintaining “purity,” is regarded as a core principle. “An impure person cannot last long at this company, because what this company does is inherently quite pure.”

Despite years of development, most internet healthcare companies still face the challenge of unclear profitability models and are likely operating at a loss. The outbreak of the pandemic has, to some extent, reinforced investors’ wait-and-see attitude. To bolster investor confidence, more companies have chosen to focus on business areas that yield short-term returns, rather than continuing to delve deeply into the provision of medical services.

While other companies flocked to the "drug-selling" business, Medlinker maintained the necessary restraint. This may be linked to Medlinker’s early emphasis on being prepared to “sit on the cold bench”—steadily advancing discipline construction, engaging more actively in serious medical care, and genuinely striving to benefit both patients and physicians.

Medlinker employees have a deep understanding of the company’s “slow” pace. A director of Medlinker’s disease department, with over ten years of experience in medical academia, remarked with genuine emotion:

“In the industry, many practitioners come from investment backgrounds, making Wang Shirui one of the few with a medical background. This difference in professional background leads to divergent perspectives on industry development. Wang Shirui understands that medical endeavors typically require at least three years before yielding results. However, for other practitioners in this sector, three months already feels like an eternity, and they may find it difficult to withstand pressures from various quarters.”

 
On the path of advancing serious medical care, Medlinker’s achievements are widely recognized. Since laying out its chronic disease management strategy in 2018, Medlinker has consistently expanded horizontal coverage across various diseases while enhancing and standardizing services vertically. Centered on digital discipline construction and guided by experts, Medlinker has gradually established standard operating procedures (SOPs) for online disease management by integrating clinical guidelines and clinical pathways, thereby creating a professional, standardized, and effective internet-based disease management system. Meanwhile, Medlinker has also strengthened its foundation for exploring online disease management by establishing an academic committee to facilitate communication with more industry experts and academic leaders.

These time-consuming and labor-intensive efforts constitute Medlinker’s “own pace of development,” honed over years of exploration. By adopting a deliberate, unhurried approach, the company has achieved in-depth expansion in patient disease management.

In response, Long Wu, Wang Shirui’s entrepreneurial partner, described his experience of working alongside Medlinker for many years as “fighting a protracted war.” “At the end of the day, Shirui and I embarked on this entrepreneurial journey because we wanted to do something meaningful: to leverage our products to forge additional solutions for diagnosing and treating diseases. Therefore, we cannot limit ourselves to any single segment of healthcare, such as online consultations or prescription issuance; instead, we aim to cover the entire patient journey from diagnosis to treatment. However, healthcare is an exceedingly complex system in which every component is indispensable. Thus, we must be prepared for a protracted struggle until the day we achieve victory.”

For a period, Wang Shirui, who was responsible for the overall strategic planning of Medlinker’s development, frequently addressed operational issues such as the current state of business expansion, strategies to narrow losses, and approaches to drive revenue growth. This led some long-serving employees, who had witnessed Medlinker’s journey from its inception, to feel perplexed, remarking that “he is becoming more and more like a businessman.” However, during that meeting, upon hearing Wang Shirui’s emphatic reaffirmation of his original commitment to healing the sick and saving lives, many of these veteran employees felt that the Wang Shirui they once knew was still present. The “Old Wang” they spoke of remained the same “dragon-slaying youth.”

Perhaps, from the moment the business plan (BP) was written, Medlinker has never changed. Everything has revolved around the statement in the BP: “Putting doctors at the core and becoming the hub of the medical internet.” All efforts have been consistently dedicated to helping doctors manage patients more efficiently.

For Medlinker, the strategy has never changed; only the tactics have evolved. The expansion from a physician community to medical services was a natural progression. Facilitating "flying knife" surgical procedures represented Medlinker’s initial exploration of offline medical services by leveraging its physician resources. As internet hospitals gained legal and regulatory recognition, Medlinker began piloting online multi-site physician practice models to deliver medical care. This ultimately transitioned into providing disease management services structured by specific conditions. Everything fell perfectly into place.

Some employees have stated that, regardless of success or failure, they are determined to stay with Medlinker until the end and witness its final outcome. They are not alone in this mindset; even many former employees who have left Medlinker frequently inquire about the company’s latest developments.

Perhaps this is also why Medlinker, after eight years since its establishment, can continue to move forward with confidence—having navigated through challenging times, Medlinker, still true to its original mission, remains steadfast in its own development rhythm. What was once Wang Shirui’s personal dream has now become the shared aspiration of every employee at Medlinker.

At the meeting, Wang Shirui spoke candidly to his colleagues, “It can be difficult, and we occasionally feel disheartened. But I know that what we are doing is right—it’s what we’ve always wanted to do. That is enough.”

Note: The names Wen Xiaoyu, Zhang Yue, and Fu Qiang used in this article are pseudonyms.