Zhiyun Health Showcases 'China Model' of Digital Chronic Disease Management at Michigan China Forum
While the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented public health crisis, it has also spurred the vigorous growth of the digital healthcare industry. From digital health management to telemedicine services, digital healthcare safeguards people’s well-being through the organic integration of medical professionals, patients, platforms, data, and medical devices. The pandemic has had a profound impact on technological innovation within the digital healthcare sector. How can emerging technologies and new business models adapt to meet the everyday healthcare needs of ordinary citizens in China and the United States?
On March 27 (Beijing Time), the MCF (Michigan China Forum) 2021 Digital Health Forum was successfully held online. The forum focused on the new normal of health in the post-pandemic era in China and the United States, centering on trends, opportunities, and prospects for digital health solutions. Established in 2017, the Michigan China Forum is committed to building a high-quality platform for exchange among leaders from academia and industry. To date, it has invited more than 100 industry luminaries to participate in the forum.
The MCF2021 Digital Health Forum invited four guest speakers, including Chad Ellimoottil, Assistant Professor of Urology at Michigan Medicine. Kuang Ming, Founder and CEO of Zhiyun Health, was invited to attend as a representative of China’s digital health enterprises and shared innovative experiences in chronic disease management with Chinese characteristics.
At present, significant strategic achievements have been made in epidemic prevention and control. During this period, digital healthcare has become a “sharp tool” for addressing practical issues such as the uneven distribution of medical resources and difficulties in accessing medical care during the pandemic, demonstrating its irreplaceable value. This has laid a solid foundation for the sound development of digital healthcare.
Digital healthcare needs to return to the essence of treatment. Both China and the United States are exploring how digital chronic disease management can address patients’ health needs. In the U.S., Livongo, founded in 2008, primarily offers solutions for patients with chronic conditions, addressing the challenge faced by commercial health insurers in controlling costs.
Due to the fundamental differences between the healthcare systems of China and the United States, Chinese companies cannot simply replicate the business models of U.S. digital health firms. With the accelerating aging of China’s population, there are currently 500 million patients with chronic diseases—including diabetes, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, kidney disease, and liver disease—indicating that substantial unmet demand remains in China’s chronic disease management market.
Kuang Ming believes that the payment structure is still dominated by basic medical insurance and critical illness pooling, with out-of-pocket payments and commercial insurance serving as supplements. Therefore, for domestic chronic disease management companies, the primary direction of exploration is how to achieve local innovation and create a "Chinese model" of "Internet + Chronic Disease Management." Currently, Zhiyun Health connects and serves nearly 2,000 hospitals and over 110,000 pharmacies across China through mobile internet and SaaS systems, providing services to more than 100 million patients annually. Meanwhile, it empowers various stakeholders in the industry chain, including pharmaceutical companies and insurers, helping thousands of hospitals and physicians manage and track patients' conditions throughout their entire lifecycle. By leveraging big data and AI technologies, Zhiyun Health provides comprehensive solutions for disease management and daily lifestyle intervention, having already achieved significant economic and social value.
Notably, Zhiyun Health’s core performance indicators—such as the number of patients served, full-scenario coverage, and supply chain empowerment—have comprehensively surpassed those of Livongo, the U.S. giant in chronic disease management, earning it industry recognition as the “Chinese Model” for Internet-plus chronic disease management.
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of tiered diagnosis and treatment, and given the severe situation of chronic disease prevention and control in China, there is a critical shortage of standardized, one-stop digital management services for chronic diseases. Zhiyun Health is actively promoting the establishment of industry standards for chronic disease data. At the end of 2020, as the exclusive technical support provider, Zhiyun Health participated in the "National Dynamic Cockpit for Chronic Disease Management" project initiated by the National Center for Chronic Disease Management, aiming to collaborate with more partners to address the challenges of "data silos and non-standardized information" in the field of chronic disease management.
At the 39th J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in early 2021, iHealth’s Chinese-style digital chronic disease management model garnered significant attention. At this year’s Michigan China Forum, Kuang Ming, representing Chinese enterprises, once again brought China’s chronic disease management model to the global stage. Refusing to be mere “apprentices” to the United States, domestic chronic disease management companies represented by iHealth are forging a distinctive path of innovative development.
Upholding Chinese characteristics and forging a digital chronic disease management model tailored to China’s national conditions, Zhiyun Health places patients at the center, leverages medical resources as its foundation, and utilizes internet platforms as connectors to enhance the quality and efficiency of online healthcare services. By continuing to deepen its engagement in chronic disease management, Zhiyun Health aims to extend the benefits of digital health to hundreds of millions of Chinese patients with chronic diseases.