Behind the Upgrade of China's Healthcare System: Digitalization as the Key Catalyst for Industry Transformation
Amid the accelerating trend of population aging, the growing demand for medical services, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increasingly urgent call to upgrade healthcare service systems through digital technologies. How can digital technologies be leveraged to address the many current challenges in healthcare and propel the healthcare service system into a new stage?
Recently, the D·Future Digital Intelligence Innovation Summit, hosted by MIT Technology Review China and DeepTech, and co-hosted by CB Insights China, was held in Beijing. Dr. Wang Yang, President and Chief Technology Officer of WeDoctor Group, was invited to attend and shared WeDoctor’s experience in driving the digital transformation of healthcare service systems with the attendees.
In the development of the digital healthcare industry, the greatest challenge in the early stages was how to break down hospital walls and extend medical and health services beyond hospital premises. During this phase, WeDoctor moved hospital service windows online through its internet hospital platform, enabling the general public to connect directly with physicians and access medical services via computers or mobile phones.
In 2015, WeDoctor established China’s first internet hospital—the Wuzhen Internet Hospital—and issued the country’s first electronic prescription from an internet hospital, pioneering reform initiatives such as online diagnosis and treatment, shared electronic medical records, and electronic prescriptions.
Currently, WeDoctorConnected across ChinaMore than 7,800 public medical institutions,Covering over95%of tertiary hospitals, registeredAmong 270,000 physicians, 86% are attending physicians or above.，subsidiary of27 Internet HospitalsZhongyou17 institutions have been designated as medical insurance providers, enabling direct billing.OnlinePayment，Allowing the public toAccess to high-quality medical services.
“In terms of the number of internet hospitals and the volume of consultations provided, WeDoctor has become China’s largest digital healthcare service platform; in terms of the number of covered physical hospitals, WeDoctor is also China’s largest online physician appointment platform,” said Dr. Wang Yang. By deploying pre-positioned servers in hospitals, WeDoctor has cumulatively referred more than 90 million patients with matching symptoms to medical institutions and physicians across China. From 2018 to 2020, WeDoctor delivered over 40 million online diagnosis and treatment services, with an average physician matching time of just three minutes, thereby saving substantial amounts of time for patients with common conditions, mild illnesses, and follow-up visits.
As hospitals dismantle their physical “walls,” enabling patients to connect online with healthcare institutions and physicians, the resulting service expansion and upgrading have become key to improving the accessibility of medical services. Specifically, this is manifested in two major aspects: the interconnectivity among core industry service elements—namely medical care, pharmaceuticals, and health insurance—and the continued expansion of the scope of health insurance coverage for internet-based diagnosis and treatment.
To this end, as a “new infrastructure” initiative in digital health, WeDoctor has established internet-based medical consortia with various localities to integrate the service loop covering healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and insurance. This effort has enabled four major service upgrades: the upgrading of tertiary hospital services represented by chronic disease centers; the upgrading of primary care services represented by mobile hospitals; the upgrading of pharmacy services represented by pharmaceutical alliances; and the upgrading of future community services represented by smart infirmaries.
Service Upgrades at Major Hospitals, Exemplified by Chronic Disease CentersBy collaborating with medical institutions at all levels, an innovative Internet-based Medical Consortium for Chronic Diseases has been established, offering online follow-up consultations, e-prescriptions, and online health insurance payment services to achieve end-to-end management of patients with chronic conditions. Dr. Wang Yang introduced that WeDoctor is currently co-establishing such Internet-based Medical Consortia for Chronic Diseases with public hospitals at secondary level or above in Jinan, Tai’an, Weifang, Dezhou, and other cities in Shandong Province. These consortia provide follow-up consultation, medication procurement, and management services for chronic disease patients, thereby achieving “four reductions”: decreased patient waiting time, reduced average medication cost per visit, alleviated outpatient pressure on hospitals, and lower health insurance expenditures for chronic diseases.
Upgrading Grassroots Healthcare Services with Mobile Hospitals as the Model. By leveraging internet, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence technologies, a new combination model of "vehicles, kits, and stations" (including cloud-based mobile clinics, cloud-based diagnostic kits, and medical and health workstations) collaborates with local public hospitals and grassroots medical institutions to provide residents at the grassroots level with a comprehensive healthcare service system covering examination and testing, diagnosis, prescription, medication, and medical insurance settlement, thereby reshaping the ecosystem of grassroots medical services.
Upgrading pharmaceutical services through digital joint procurement of drugs and medical devices, as well as regional pharmaceutical care services. By establishing a transparent online platform for joint price-capped procurement of drugs and medical devices, we have helped provinces and cities such as Sanming and Xiamen in Fujian Province, and Handan in Hebei Province achieve integration of joint procurement, price negotiation, transaction, settlement, and supervision for drugs and consumables. Meanwhile, leveraging both physical hospitals and internet hospitals, we have established three major centers: the Pharmaceutical Care Service Center, the Prescription Circulation Center, and the Transparent Procurement Center. These centers provide clinical services related to pharmaceuticals and supply management, delivering high-quality and affordable pharmaceutical services to the public.
Upgrading Future Community Services: The Implementation of Smart ClinicsLeveraging hardware and software platforms such as the WeDoctor Cloud system and intelligent remote medical devices, we provide community residents with a comprehensive, one-stop healthcare service experience. This includes appointment registration, online consultations, e-prescriptions, payment via personal medical insurance accounts, and on-site medication pickup, enabling residents to access quality healthcare right at their doorstep.
From connecting doctors and patients to upgrading services, WeDoctor’s ultimate goal is to leverage technology to drive the transformation of the healthcare service system from a “disease-centered” model to a “health-centered” one. After achieving digital connectivity among the supply side, demand side, and payers, the industry has embarked on exploring the model of tightly integrated internet-based medical consortia. By establishing accountable care organizations oriented toward health outcomes, the sector aims to further enhance the quality and efficiency of the entire healthcare system.
“When internet hospitals become firmly established across China and the online-offline closed loop is gradually integrated, we can truly drive substantial breakthroughs in the healthcare service system and build a health-centered healthcare delivery model,” introduced Dr. Wang Yang. Citing the Tianjin Primary Care Digital Health Consortium developed by WeDoctor in Tianjin as an example, he noted that this initiative is led by an internet hospital and collaboratively formed with 267 primary care institutions throughout the city. The tight-knit internet-based medical consortium, representing Healthcare Reform 3.0, has initially completed its systemic framework.
By implementing the “Four Clouds” platform—comprising cloud-based management, cloud services, cloud pharmacy, and cloud diagnostics—Tianjin’s grassroots digital health consortium has achieved unified management, shared responsibility, benefit sharing, and standardized services locally. It has established a health stewardship organization that covers residents’ entire life cycle and full spectrum of health needs, effectively improving population health indicators and enhancing the operational efficiency of medical insurance funds.
As the most advanced exploration and practice in digital healthcare reform, the Primary Care Digital Health Community has established a health maintenance system within provincial administrative regions. By redefining performance evaluation mechanisms with a focus on health outcomes and incentivizing through retained surpluses, it has constructed a new accountability framework. This enables health insurance payers to cover health outcomes based on fixed costs, truly realizing the transition from “disease treatment-centered” to “health promotion-centered” care.
Dr. Wang Yang further explained that the WeDoctor digital healthcare service system primarily consists of three components: the “edge” (application terminals), the “cloud” (data connectivity), and the “brain” (intelligence). Medical data is accumulated through various smart terminals, then uploaded to the cloud for processing to create a powerful “Health Brain,” which in turn enhances end-to-end healthcare services and related industries.
“Supported by the interconnectedness of devices, cloud infrastructure, and intelligent systems, WeDoctor fully leverages digital technologies to optimize and reshape the healthcare service system, thereby enhancing overall medical service capacity and efficiency,” said Dr. Wang Yang. He noted that the healthcare industry holds broad prospects, and WeDoctor is leveraging digital power to complete the closed loop of industry value, serving as a “health gatekeeper” for hundreds of millions of people.