Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Guangzhou WeDoctor Internet Hospital Forge Strategic Partnership to Launch Internet-Based TCM Medical Consortium
Ms. Jiang, a resident of Tianhe District in Guangzhou, had long been troubled by irregular menstruation, which sometimes impaired her work performance due to significant mood swings. She had previously undergone treatment with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for a period. “My work schedule is so hectic that I could never find time to return to the hospital for follow-up visits. Now, I can communicate with Director Cheng through the internet hospital app on my phone, and the decocted TCM formulations are delivered directly to my home. This is extremely convenient for office workers like us.”
On August 16, the Internet Hospital of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine was officially launched. Patients can access a one-stop service package—including online follow-up consultations, prescription renewals and medication dispensing, herbal decoction services, and home delivery of medicines—through the internet hospital platform without visiting the hospital in person. On the same day, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine signed an agreement with Guangzhou WeDoctor Internet Hospital to jointly establish a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Medical Consortium. Leveraging the internet hospital platform, the two parties will build an online medical consortium, develop sustainable new models of diagnosis and treatment and service workflows, and construct a digital TCM health maintenance system centered on patient health.
Patients can follow the WeChat Service Account of “Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine,” select “Internet Hospital” under the “Outpatient Services” menu, and choose either “General Outpatient” or “Specialist Outpatient” as needed. After selecting a physician and submitting their medical condition, patients can communicate with the doctor online. The physician will prescribe medication based on the patient’s actual condition; once the prescription is approved by a pharmacist and the patient completes the payment, the medications will be delivered to their doorstep.
Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Internet Hospital Officially Launched
As epidemic prevention and control measures became normalized, medical institutions represented by Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine actively innovated their service models, leveraging “Internet+” to provide timely and effective healthcare services to patients through multiple channels and formats. In June this year, the local COVID-19 outbreak in Guangzhou drew widespread concern. In response, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine partnered with the WeDoctor platform to rapidly launch online consultation services. A team of TCM experts joined the hospital’s internet hospital platform, offering free daily consultations to answer patient questions without physical barriers. As of August 9, more than 300 doctors from 30 departments at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine had provided online consultations via the internet hospital, serving over 12,000 patients.
Director Cheng Lan is conducting consultations at the Internet Hospital.
Cheng Lan, Director of the Chronic Disease Management Center and Chief Physician in the Department of Gynecology at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, is one such example. With the launch of general and specialist outpatient services on the hospital’s internet platform, she joined immediately. “I have many patients like Ms. Jiang who primarily seek condition regulation through TCM. They have frequent follow-up needs and a preference for traditional Chinese medicine, yet their busy work schedules make visits challenging. The internet hospital makes it more convenient for them to attend follow-up consultations and obtain prescriptions, while also reducing the risk of cross-infection associated with offline visits.”
Notably, to ensure service quality and safety, the newly launched general outpatient services are primarily available to patients who have visited the physical facilities of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine within the past three months, allowing them to select the same physician for online follow-up consultations as they saw during their in-person visit.
“Currently, more than 300 physicians are providing services through our internet hospital, flexibly scheduling online consultations during hours when they are not seeing patients in person. Furthermore, medication prices for general outpatient services are aligned with those of the hospital pharmacy, and 169 types of in-house pharmaceutical preparations have been made available online,” said Wang Weirong, Deputy Director of the Medical Quality Control Office and Head of the Internet Hospital Management Office at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He added that efforts are currently being intensified to develop additional service features, such as online medical insurance payment and specialist outpatient clinics, to provide patients with higher-quality and more convenient care.
As a demonstration province for “Internet + Healthcare,” Guangdong has successively issued documents such as the Action Plan for Promoting the Development of “Internet + Healthcare” in Guangdong Province, the Action Plan for Building a National Demonstration Province for “Internet + Healthcare,” and Healthy Guangdong · Smart Health Initiative, to advance the development of “Internet + Healthcare” and continuously enhance the accessibility and convenience of health services.
Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and WeDoctor Group Sign Agreement to Jointly Establish an Internet-based TCM Medical Consortium
As digital technologies such as the internet, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence continue to deepen their integration, the inheritance, innovation, and development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) have gained a new lever in “digitalization.” Chen Dacan, President of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, stated that following the signing of a cooperative agreement between Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine and Guangzhou WeDoctor Internet Hospital, the two parties will leverage the internet hospital platform to build an internet-based medical consortium. This initiative aims to establish a closed-loop service system featuring TCM across “online + offline” and “in-hospital + out-of-hospital” settings, thereby creating sustainable new models of diagnosis and treatment as well as service workflows, and promoting the inheritance, innovation, and development of TCM.
Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, hailed as “the premier medical institution in Lingnan,” has ranked among the top traditional Chinese medicine hospitals nationwide in annual patient volume for over two consecutive decades. Its specialty influence extends across the province and beyond, having spearheaded the formation of 22 specialty medical alliances and established collaborative partnerships with more than 200 hospitals, reaching 17 provinces and municipalities.
WeDoctor is China’s largest digital healthcare service platform, connecting more than 7,800 hospitals, 270,000 registered physicians, and 220 million registered users across the country. WeDoctor established China’s first internet hospital, the Wuzhen Internet Hospital, pioneering new business models such as online follow-up consultations, electronic medical record sharing, and e-prescriptions. As of the end of last year, WeDoctor operated 27 internet hospitals nationwide, 17 of which were integrated with national health insurance settlement systems.
“In the future, WeDoctor will join hands with Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine to advance the development of internet hospitals and TCM medical consortia, benefiting residents in Guangdong Province and across China,” said Fan Jiping, President of WeDoctor’s General Internet Hospital. To promote the construction of TCM medical consortia and internet hospitals, future efforts will focus on three key initiatives: leveraging internet technologies to facilitate the downward distribution of high-quality medical resources; building a demonstration model for internet-based TCM medical consortia to enhance service capabilities; and utilizing internet platforms to implement standardized chronic disease management for early prevention and treatment. These measures aim to establish a digital TCM health maintenance system centered on wellness, truly achieving the goals of “preventing serious illnesses, managing chronic conditions, and ensuring health security.”