JD Health Partners with Academician Han Demin to Launch Otolaryngology Center, Shifting Focus from Treatment to Holistic Health

During the COVID-19 pandemic, “Internet + Healthcare” accelerated its integration into people’s daily lives, fully leveraging its advantages of contactless service, rapid response, and breakthrough of spatial barriers, thereby triggering a surge in “online medical consultations.”

On June 10, the “Academician Forum on Innovation and Development of Healthcare Service Models & Launch Ceremony of JD Health ENT Intelligent Medical Health Service Center” was successfully held in Beijing. Attendees included Academician Han Demin, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of the China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care; Academician Cheng Jing, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the National Engineering Research Center for Beijing Biochip Technology; and Academician Dong Jiahong, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital Affiliated to Tsinghua University.

At the press conference, JD Health announced a strategic partnership with the China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care (hereinafter referred to as “China MEPHA”), under which Academician Han Demin was appointed as “Chief Advisor to JD Health.” Meanwhile, the “JD Health Otorhinolaryngology Intelligent Medical and Healthcare Service Center” (hereinafter referred to as “JD Health ENT Center”) was officially established. Leveraging the advantages of internet-based healthcare, the center will expand application scenarios for medical artificial intelligence, connect with offline medical institutions, and provide the general public with an innovative online-to-offline integrated closed-loop healthcare service.

JD Health Enters into Strategic Partnership with Chinese Medical Promotion Association

In recent years, with the continuous advancement of China’s healthcare system reform, the exploration of new healthcare service models has never ceased. The recent pandemic has further accelerated the development of new business formats within the healthcare industry. Taking internet-based healthcare as an example, the state has intensively issued a series of policies to encourage the development of “Internet + Healthcare.” The top-level design for the establishment of internet hospitals is now largely complete, and the industry is entering a period of policy-driven growth. As a result, the market size of internet-based healthcare, the number of internet hospitals, and the volume of online consultations have all achieved leapfrog growth.

Xin Lijun, Vice President of JD.com and CEO of JD Health, stated that JD Health will continue to build “National Internet Medical Centers” for specialized diseases and disciplines by connecting with top-tier medical resources and delivering integrated online-offline diagnosis, treatment, and health management services.

Academician Han Demin has highly endorsed JD Health’s philosophy. He believes that during the COVID-19 pandemic, internet healthcare played a positive role by assisting physical hospitals in conducting online initial screening and triage, thereby alleviating the burden on these institutions and preventing cross-infection in shared physical spaces. Additionally, it facilitated online management for patients with chronic diseases, enabling them to undergo follow-up consultations and purchase medications remotely.

China is undergoing population aging, industrialization, and urbanization, facing challenges such as the coexistence of multiple disease threats, the interplay of various health determinants, and unbalanced development in the healthcare sector, with an urgent need to transform and upgrade its development model. Academician Han believes that future healthcare service models will shift from a treatment-centered approach to a health-centered one, with the internet, big data, and medical artificial intelligence serving as the specific pathways and methods.

Academician Han pointed out that the connotation of “Healthy China” is not only to ensure people’s physical health, but also encompasses a broader concept of health that includes the mental well-being of the entire population, a healthy environment, a healthy economy, and a healthy society. It is based on the comprehensive improvement of people’s health literacy. He stated, “This requires not only the ‘small prescriptions’ issued by the medical and health sectors, but more importantly, the ‘large prescriptions’ driven by coordinated efforts across society as a whole, integrating health into all policies, including those related to healthcare, environmental protection, and food.”

The collaboration between the China Medical Promotion Association and JD Health will center on the needs of patients and users, starting with otolaryngological diseases and rapidly expanding to other disease areas. This partnership aims to promote the integrated development of rehabilitation and prevention in otolaryngology and even more specialized fields, explore an online-offline integrated model for the prevention, rehabilitation, and chronic disease management of specific specialties, enhance the level of medical diagnosis and treatment services, better safeguard the health of the people, and help users and patients enjoy a higher quality of healthy living.

JD Health Otorhinolaryngology Intelligent Medical Health Service Center Officially Launched

Since entering the pharmaceutical industry in 2016, JD Health has adhered to the strategy of “integrated medical and pharmaceutical services.” Leveraging the JD Group’s brand strength, traffic resources, supply chain capabilities, and logistics infrastructure, JD Health has established the most extensive and comprehensive “Internet + Healthcare” ecosystem in the industry.

JD Health believes that collaborating with medical institutions, manufacturers, and service providers to integrate hardware and software, and leveraging big healthcare data to break down traditional medical information silos, is the only way to advance the healthcare industry toward higher quality, greater efficiency, enhanced equity, and improved sustainability.

The newly established JD Health ENT Center is the first national-level specialized medical center dedicated to otorhinolaryngological health services, featuring an integrated online-offline model and built with the goal of becoming a national-level medical center. Reportedly, the JD Health ENT Center comprises departments including Otology, Rhinology, Laryngology, Skull Base Surgery, Noise Medicine, and Head and Neck Surgery.

When introducing the center, Academician Han Demin stated, “Following the establishment of the Otolaryngology Center, we will leverage the otolaryngology discipline as a strategic focal point, harness the advantages of internet-based healthcare, expand application scenarios for medical artificial intelligence, utilize monitoring data from portable medical devices, employ intelligent referral and triage systems to connect with offline medical institutions, integrate online payment channels for both basic medical insurance and commercial health insurance, and supplement these services with pharmaceutical logistics and delivery, thereby creating a novel closed-loop ecosystem for ‘online + offline’ healthcare services.”

JD Health CEO Xin Lijun believes that, by keeping pace with the development of National Medical Centers and National Regional Medical Centers, JD Health is making significant explorations into new models of healthcare services. This involves connecting top-tier medical resources, such as physician groups and medical institutions, on a large-scale and regional basis, to establish national-level internet healthcare centers and national-level internet-based tiered diagnosis and treatment centers. These initiatives revolve around an integrated closed-loop model encompassing “online + offline” services and “medical care + pharmaceuticals + insurance + elderly care.”

(Caption: Four academicians engage in a roundtable discussion on the theme of “Exploring New Models of Healthcare Services.” From left to right: Gui Kequan, Editor-in-Chief of Health界 (Healthjie) and special host of the press conference; Dong Jiahong, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital affiliated with Tsinghua University; Han Demin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of the China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care; Cheng Jing, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the National Engineering Research Center for Biochips in Beijing; and Tian Wei, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital.)

According to reports, another major objective of establishing the ENT Center is to facilitate the downward distribution of high-quality medical resources. This also reflects JD Health’s corporate social responsibility as an internet healthcare enterprise. In the current context of advancing the national health strategy and intensifying efforts in poverty alleviation, it is of great significance to help impoverished populations reduce out-of-pocket expenses for medical consultations and medication purchases, thereby improving the accessibility of pharmaceuticals and medical services.

The two parties shared the same vision. In November 2016, the Chinese Medical Doctor Promotion Association (CMDPA) launched and implemented a medical public welfare initiative—the Hua Tuo Project. This initiative aims to fully leverage the academic leadership of academicians and experts, strengthen foundational disciplinary infrastructure, extend high-quality medical resources to grassroots levels, enhance primary care service capabilities, support the implementation of China’s tiered diagnosis and treatment system, and explore people-centered innovative models for healthcare services. The project is also one of the key areas of collaboration between JD Health and the CMDPA.

Regarding JD Health’s collaboration with the Chinese Medical Promotion Association (CMPA) and the Huatuo Project, Xin Lijun stated that JD Health will join hands with the CMPA to develop integrated online-offline medical services characterized by interconnected information and resources. This initiative aims to continue delivering high-quality medical resources to areas with relative shortages, thereby supporting the national implementation of tiered diagnosis and treatment systems and enhancing the equity and accessibility of medical resources.

In the future, JD Health will continue to partner with the Chinese Medical Doctor Association (CMDA) to respond to the call of the “Healthy China Initiative,” providing users with convenient, high-quality medical and healthcare products and services. As Xin Lijun, CEO of JD Health, stated, “JD Health seeks breakthroughs amidst change, grounding its efforts in the health of the nation. By fully integrating resources from hospitals, physicians, enterprises, and other stakeholders, we leverage our core competencies to center on users and patients, continuously driving innovative development in the medical and healthcare sector.”