Is Haodf Online Reliable? In-Depth Trial Results Revealed
Recently, the recurring COVID-19 outbreaks across China have caused significant inconvenience for patients seeking in-person medical care. As a result, an increasing number of people are turning to online healthcare platforms to consult with physicians and seek assistance. Are online consultations truly reliable? Can doctors effectively address patients’ concerns through these channels? These are questions on many people’s minds.
Since physicians are the ultimate providers of medical services, the reliability of online consultation services largely depends on which physicians offer services on the platform and the quality of their medical care. For Haodf Online, a platform with a high volume of consultations, an in-depth trial and observation focusing on physician qualifications, authenticity, response speed, and response quality can provide valuable insights.
First, which hospitals do the physicians providing online consultations on Haodf.com come from, and what are their qualifications?
One renowned tertiary hospital was selected from each of the three cities—Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou—namely Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, and The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. We retrieved the outpatient service information of physicians from these three hospitals on Haodf Online. The results showed that nearly 1,000 physicians from each of these hospitals provide outpatient services on Haodf Online, with physician adoption rates (i.e., the number of physicians providing services on Haodf Online divided by the total number of physicians listed for that hospital on Haodf Online) exceeding 55% for all three institutions, reaching as high as 72% at Huashan Hospital.
After reviewing the overall activation rate across the hospital, let’s examine the situation at the level of individual departments and attending physicians. On the homepage, select “Find Doctors by Department,” randomly choose Cardiology, and the system will automatically recommend available physicians in the Beijing area based on your location.
Based on the hospital affiliations and professional titles of the top 20 physicians providing online consultation services, 15 hold the title of Chief Physician and 5 hold the title of Associate Chief Physician. Ten of these physicians are from Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; five are from Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University; and the remaining five are also affiliated with several major Grade A tertiary hospitals in Beijing.
According to the "2020 Fudan University Hospital Rankings: Cardiovascular Specialty List," the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Fuwai Hospital and Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, are both renowned institutions in the field of cardiovascular diseases, ranking 1st and 3rd nationwide, respectively.
Access to specialists from top-tier (Grade 3A) hospitals is a key advantage of the Haodf Online platform. If you require expert consultation for complex medical conditions, you may seek assistance here.
In the past two years, reports on robot consultations and AI-generated prescriptions have frequently appeared in the media. For online medical consultations, the primary concern among users is the authenticity of the physicians. So, how does the Haodaifu platform ensure that services are provided personally by the verified doctors themselves?
Haodf Online maintains a rigorous physician certification process. Physicians are required to upload their national ID cards, Physician Qualification Certificates, Physician Practice Certificates, and employment credentials, and must pass facial recognition verification. Dedicated personnel on the platform are responsible for reviewing these documents, verifying each physician’s practice registration information against the official website of the National Health Commission, and conducting telephone verification with the physicians’ affiliated hospitals to ensure the authenticity and validity of all submitted credentials. Additionally, physicians must successfully complete facial recognition before each login to provide consultations, ensuring that the account is being used by the verified individual.
On the doctor’s personal profile page, a “Real-Person Verification Passed” badge is indeed displayed in the upper-left corner. Clicking on it reveals that the physician’s qualification certificate and practice license have been verified, and facial recognition authentication has been completed.
The authenticity of experts can be further verified through physicians’ consultation records. These records have been de-identified to display only the communication between physicians and patients regarding medical conditions, excluding any privacy-sensitive information such as patients’ names or phone numbers, and containing no images or videos.
A chief physician in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Beijing Children’s Hospital, he primarily responds to patients via voice messages. Judging from the content of their conversations, he is familiar with many of them, and a significant number of these patients have likely consulted him in person as well, maintaining ongoing contact with him through online platforms.
A chief physician at Peking Union Medical College Hospital has assembled a team comprising an attending physician and a physician assistant. The chief physician personally responds to patients’ inquiries regarding diseases and medication, while other team members handle administrative and routine matters, such as issuing nucleic acid test certificates and processing medical insurance reimbursements. Each response displays the name of the responder, allowing patients to clearly see who addressed their query.
On the prominent section of the Haodaifu App homepage, there is also a button labeled “Live Free Clinic.” By clicking on it, users will find that dozens of live free clinic sessions are held daily in the “Live Free Clinic Hall.” Most of the physicians conducting these live streams are from large public tertiary Grade A hospitals across China, leveraging the live-streaming format to interact with patients in a “face-to-face” and “zero-distance” manner.
Haodf Online’s rigorous credential verification and facial recognition processes ensure the authenticity of physicians from a systemic perspective, while features such as voice responses, team-based consultations, and live-streamed free clinics provide multiple effective tools for genuine doctor-patient communication.。
The standard service window for text-based consultations on Haodf Online is typically two days. Given that physicians are already heavily burdened with clinical duties—especially specialists at major hospitals—how prompt are their online responses? Can they effectively address patients’ concerns within the brief 48-hour timeframe? A random review of communication records between specialists and patients at several Grade 3A hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou was conducted.
The first expert is from the Department of Endocrinology at Peking University First Hospital. From three consultation records on the same day, it can be seen that the doctor provided final recommendations to the patient on the same day, including the next steps for treatment direction and medication adjustment plans.
The second expert is from the Department of Neurology at Huashan Hospital, Fudan University. The physicians also provided clear medical advice within 48 hours and issued prescriptions for the patients.
The third expert is from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. In the two most recent consultations, the physician provided clear diagnostic and treatment recommendations within 48 hours in both instances.
Although experts on Haodf Online do not respond in real time, they generally provide patients with clear guidance and recommendations within 48 hours.
Online Consultations: With Doctors and Patients “Miles Apart,” Will Their Communication Remain Superficial? To What Extent Can Online Medical Consultations Actually Resolve Health Issues?
In the consultation records of a hemangioma specialist at Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, it can be seen that the average number of total communication exchanges between the doctor and each patient exceeded 30 messages. The doctor’s replies accounted for half of the total interactions, indicating that the doctor essentially responded to every question raised by the patients, demonstrating quite thorough communication.
Another renowned expert from the Department of Pediatric Dermatology at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics has also assembled a medical team to provide collaborative patient care. This expert handles a high volume of consultations, with more than 20 new cases added daily, yet engages in dozens to even hundreds of communications with each patient’s parents. Both the expert and the physicians on the team provide detailed responses via lengthy text messages or voice notes, and they proactively make voice calls to offer guidance to parents.
On Haodaifu Online, after each consultation, physicians provide a summary of “Consultation Recommendations,” which is similar to outpatient medical records in hospitals. These recommendations include next steps for treatment, suggestions for examinations, and medication advice, among other details. The information is presented clearly and at a glance, eliminating the need for patients to review communication logs, thereby offering significant convenience and utility.
The responses provided by physicians on the Haodf Online platform exceeded expectations in terms of both thoroughness and patience. In particular, the requirement for physicians to document consultation recommendations after each encounter underscores Haodf’s professionalism and adherence to standardized practices as an internet hospital.
Overall, as a 16-year veteran deeply entrenched in the internet healthcare sector, Haodf Online has made substantial efforts to ensure physician authenticity and enhance the efficiency and quality of medical services. As a platform, Haodf does not directly provide diagnostic and treatment services to patients; rather, its role is to organize physicians across China via the internet and equip them with practical, user-friendly systems and tools, thereby enabling doctors to deliver better care to patients. Of course, no platform is perfect, and Haodf still has room for improvement. It is hoped that the platform will remain committed to professionalism and continuous refinement, so as to provide the public with higher-quality, more convenient medical services.