YaoJiKe: Empowering Pharmacy Digital Transformation and Chronic Disease Member Management

2020 was a “surreal” year. China took the lead globally in bringing the epidemic under control, achieving positive economic growth, while pharmaceutical retail, e-pharmacy, and internet healthcare all experienced rapid development.

As 2020 comes to a close, the impact of the pandemic continues. In the face of future uncertainties, it has become an industry consensus that the pharmaceutical retail sector must transition from merely “selling drugs” to providing comprehensive “services.” Coupled with an accelerating aging trend, how to better serve the middle-aged and elderly population, including patients with chronic diseases such as hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia (the “three highs”), will be a key consideration in the transformation of the pharmaceutical retail industry.

Li Jianhua, founder of Yaoji Ke (Drug Geek), believes that the pharmacy retail industry remains entrenched in traditional retail practices centered on “low prices and free gifts,” leading to steadily declining gross profit margins. Coupled with pressure from leading chain pharmacies, competition from pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms, and policy-driven changes, transformation has become imperative.

Yaojike believes that pharmacies need to strengthen their pharmacist service systems and pharmaceutical care infrastructure, equipping themselves with capabilities in health consultation, nutritional counseling, and even medical advice. By deepening the development of chronic disease management services and implementing refined digital membership management, pharmacies can better and sustainably enhance their operational capabilities. Leading chain enterprises, such as Laobaixing and Dashenlin, began strategically positioning themselves in this area early on.

YaojiKe empowers small and medium-sized pharmacy chains, independent pharmacies, and community elderly care institutions to better establish a closed-loop system for “medical care + pharmaceuticals + chronic disease management services.” YaojiKe has independently developed a SaaS platform that includes an O2O new retail system designed to empower pharmaceutical chains. This system supports online medication purchases with offline home delivery, while integrating modules such as online doctors, online pharmacists, and intelligent consultation into the O2O framework. This ensures that customers receive professional medication guidance and related pharmaceutical services from “pharmacists” whenever they purchase medications. The O2O system is integrated with rider platforms such as Meituan and Dada, enabling 30-minute home delivery of medications, thereby allowing small and medium-sized chains to operate their own O2O new retail services.

In the field of chronic disease management, Yaojike has accumulated seven years of industry experience, having served 200,000 chronic disease patients in China, and has established a professional service system and standards for chronic disease management. Leveraging past service experience, data from industry experts, and market research visits, Yaojike dedicated one year to system development, enabling services such as real-time monitoring of blood glucose and blood pressure, abnormality alerts, condition assessment, health reports, and personalized guidance from doctors, pharmacists, and health managers. Yaojike pioneered the “3-vs-1” service philosophy and established the 5S service standard, aiming to reduce the financial and physical burdens on every chronic disease patient, thereby allowing them to enjoy a better quality of life.

Yaojike’s independently developed SaaS platforms—including an electronic prescription circulation system, a chronic disease management system, and an intelligent consultation service—combined with smart blood glucose and blood pressure monitors and 32-inch intelligent terminal consultation kiosks, enable flexible deployment and service integration to meet the market application needs of partners such as pharmaceutical retail chains and pharmaceutical distributors.

In 2020, YaoGeek commenced its comprehensive rollout in Guangdong Province. Currently, it serves over 3,000 pharmacies and has established strategic channel partnerships with leading pharmaceutical enterprises in ten cities, including Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Qingyuan, Zhanjiang, and Maoming. The company plans to fully launch market expansion and chronic disease management services in 2021.

YaoJike will launch its nationwide investment promotion campaign in China this year, empowering more professionals in the broader health industry through its SaaS platform combined with chronic disease management services (pharmaceutical care services). YaoJike expresses its hope that more partners will pay attention to the pharmaceutical and broader health sector, and welcomes additional partners to join YaoJike.