Wang Hang: Internet Healthcare Trends Mirror E-commerce; Third-party Platforms Deliver Targeted Traffic [2019VB100]

On December 20, 2019, the 2019 Top 100 Future Healthcare Conference, themed “New Growth Drivers for Life,” kicked off at the Jiuhua Resort in Beijing. Focusing on multiple factors including the policy environment, technological landscape, and demand potential, the conference provided a comprehensive analysis of development trends in the future healthcare industry and promoted innovative transformation within the health and medical sector.

The conference featured 15 forums, including the Future Healthcare Summit, the Top 100 Summit, and the Leadership Summit, covering 11 major hot topics of 2019. At the Future Healthcare Summit, Wang Hang, founder and CEO of Haodf Online, delivered a speech titled “Building a Quality System for Internet Healthcare.” We have summarized his key points as follows:

It is widely recognized within the industry that 2014 marked the inaugural year of internet healthcare. Over the past five years, internet healthcare has undergone significant transformations across various dimensions, including the policy environment, market conditions, business models, and participant landscape.

Wang Hang, Founder and CEO of Haodf Online

As one of the pioneers of internet healthcare, Wang Hang is not only the founder and CEO of Haodf.com but also initiated the establishment of the Yinchuan Internet + Medical Health Association, serving as its president, and has witnessed the changes in internet healthcare in recent years. Wang Hang believes that internet healthcare has gone through three stages.

Phase I: Online Information Display.As with all other industries, migrating information to the internet—particularly physician profiles—enables patients to browse such data online and make informed healthcare decisions prior to seeking medical care.

The second phase is online doctor-patient interaction.Patients’ access to information via the internet has influenced their offline healthcare-seeking behavior. As physicians have gradually become aware of this shift, they have begun to engage with patients online. In addition to pre-consultation interactions aimed at guiding patients to seek appropriate care, there are post-consultation interactions designed to facilitate long-term communication and provide follow-up services.

“On March 26 this year, Professor Yu Gang, former director of the Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology at Beijing Children’s Hospital, posted an image on his WeChat Moments, stating that his online traffic had reached a ‘small goal’—namely, 100 million views.” Wang Hang believes this is a significant milestone, indicating that physician-oriented online platforms focused on doctor-patient communication have matured considerably, and that online communication between doctors and patients has become a mainstream demand.

The third stage is online diagnosis and treatment.In September last year, the National Health Commission and the Bureau of Medical Administration issued a series of administrative measures for internet-based diagnosis and treatment and internet hospitals, clarifying that remote consultations and online follow-up visits are legal. The entire industry now has clear guidelines on what should and should not be done, entering a phase of significant development. “We are currently in the third stage,” summarized Wang Hang.

With policy certainty achieved for internet healthcare, the industry has developed rapidly, and the construction of internet hospitals has once again entered a peak period. As of October this year, there were 269 internet hospitals across China. The participants are diverse, including not only mainstream internet healthcare companies, health informatics firms, and pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms, but also pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical device companies, and insurers. Public hospitals are also actively establishing internet hospitals.

What are the primary challenges facing the third stage following the exploration and development of the first two stages, and how should they be addressed? Wang Hang elaborated on these issues from five perspectives.

Wang Hang believes that market forces are the most dynamic force in society, and to determine whether the industry has entered a period of significant growth, a fundamental baseline must be established. This is because, within China’s vast healthcare market, medical care involves both market-driven activities and public welfare considerations.

“After years of experimentation with internet-based healthcare, the state has been able to provide definitive policy support. One important reason is that it was first deployed in western regions and at the grassroots level, addressing the local shortage of medical resources and personnel,” said Wang Hang. He noted that the greatest insight gained from this experience is that when commercial initiatives are integrated with social welfare and fundamental societal issues, thereby assuming corresponding social responsibilities, they receive state support. “Therefore, I believe this remains the fundamental principle we must adhere to in the current period.”

Patients generally avoid going to hospitals unless absolutely necessary, due to unsatisfactory service experiences. This reflects a broader issue in China’s healthcare industry: while clinical care is highly prioritized, patient service experience remains underemphasized.

“Against this backdrop, if we were to significantly increase service volume, I believe the outcomes would be unfavorable. Therefore, I maintain that the focus should remain on driving improvements in service quality across the entire industry,” stated Wang Hang.

In this regard, Haodf Online has also made some attempts. The product design and innovation at Haodf Online do not stem from product managers working in isolation, but rather from patient experiences. This year, Haodf Online established multiple channels for patient complaints and feedback, having received a total of 1.4 million pieces of patient feedback to date. Wang Hang introduced that all such feedback must be handled by team leaders, and product managers are required to personally experience user pain points. Only after they have gained this firsthand understanding will subsequent product improvements be driven forward.

This year, Haodf Online also eliminated sales targets, shifting performance metrics toward patient satisfaction and complaint resolution rates. “Currently, patient gratitude has become the norm. We are still struggling to address reminders for responses and order acceptances, which account for 14% of interactions, primarily because clinicians are extremely busy. Genuine complaints constitute only 3%. We are now confident in disclosing this figure; a year ago, it would have been unthinkable to do so,” introduced Wang Hang.

Once healthcare services have accumulated experience in quality control and service process optimization, how should the industry develop? Should players operate independently or unite? This is also a key issue at the current stage.

The healthcare industry maintains zero tolerance for safety issues; any serious incident in this regard could lead to tighter regulations. “This is a frightening prospect for the industry,” said Wang Hang. To address this issue, Haodf.com, together with WeDoctor and DXY, initiated the establishment of the Yinchuan Internet+ Healthcare Association last October.

Currently, the Yinchuan Internet + Medical Health Association has 56 member units, including 30 internet hospitals. Wang Hang stated that the association is already promoting the participation of enterprises nationwide. “It is imperative for us to jointly establish agreed-upon standards and commercial baselines, which is essential in an industry characterized by strict regulation and zero tolerance for risk.”

The primary mission of the Yinchuan Internet + Medical Health Association is to promote industry self-regulation and advance academic research. To date, the association has issued several industry standards, with a particular focus on developing self-regulatory guidelines for pharmaceutical care services related to medications and the management of health science popularization in commercial advertising.

Wang Hang believes that internet healthcare is in the early stage of its third phase, as a large number of hospitals have just begun to establish their own internet hospitals. After the National Healthcare Security Administration introduced medical insurance payment policies for internet healthcare this year, enthusiasm among public hospitals for building internet hospitals has actually declined. This is because medical insurance reimbursements do not increase simply due to the establishment of an internet hospital, and the overall budget control remains in place.

“I believe we can draw lessons from the development trajectory of e-commerce,” said Wang Hang. “Major enterprises such as Haier and Gree have built their own e-commerce platforms, yet the bulk of their sales still comes from JD.com and Tmall. I predict that internet healthcare will follow a similar path to the e-commerce industry.”

Regarding this viewpoint, Wang Hang offered insights from two perspectives.First, major hospitals will continue to establish their own internet hospitals to provide online services independently. Second, the industry’s significant future growth will still lie with third-party platforms, whose more specialized capabilities can enhance the overall service quality of the entire sector., let professionals handle professional tasks, thereby bringing more precise traffic and incremental growth to hospitals.

Should Patients Choose the Hospital or the Doctor? This is a choice every patient faces. Only by truly understanding patient habits can internet healthcare services be better provided.

Wang Hang’s view is that before going to the hospital, patients not only need to decide which hospital to visit but also seek out the specific doctor they should consult. In this context, every physician must deliver superior diagnostic and treatment services to nurture their personal brand. Therefore, promoting the development of physicians’ personal brands, leveraging these individual brands to enhance team branding, and driving the growth of departmental brands constitute a critical approach to improving service quality.

Wang Hang concluded that healthcare is a lifelong endeavor, and quality is the most critical factor for achieving steady development at present.