Mingxin Health Launches Innovative Commercial Insurance Payment Model in Boao Lecheng to Enhance Access to Advanced Medical Therapies

On December 19, MediTrust Health, a domestic innovative medical payment enterprise, and the Administration Bureau of Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone jointly hostedAdvanced Healthcare and Commercial Insurance Empowerment — Innovative Commercial Insurance Payment Forum and Signing Ceremony,The two parties will establish a comprehensive and in-depth strategic partnership in the field of innovative medical payment services and launch the “Boao Lecheng Innovative Commercial Insurance Payment Platform.”

The forum brought together representatives from the government, Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, China Re, pharmaceutical and insurance companies, as well as numerous media friends, to jointly explore how innovative commercial health insurance payment models can help Boao Lecheng build a demonstration window for advanced healthcare, thereby benefiting more Chinese citizens.

At the outset of the conference, Mr. Gu Gang, Director of the Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone Administration, delivered an enthusiastic address and introduced the development progress of Boao Lecheng. “In 2013, the State Council approved the establishment of the Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone, granting it special preferential policies in areas such as cutting-edge medical technology research, registration of overseas physicians, and market access for foreign capital. In 2018, the authority to approve特许 medical devices and pharmaceuticals was successively delegated to Hainan Province.”

“Today, Boao Lecheng has transformed from a rural village into a new medical city, becoming one of the important windows for Hainan’s comprehensive deepening of reform and opening-up.” Director Gu expressed his anticipation that Boao Lecheng, with its beautiful environment, will play a significant role in the world-class “International Medical Care” strategy in the future. He also expressed confidence that more outstanding enterprises like MediTrust Health will contribute to Lecheng’s development in the years to come.

Address by Gu Gang, Director of the Administration Bureau of Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone

In May 2019, the State Council issued the Key Tasks for Deepening the Reform of the Medical and Healthcare System in 2019, designating “strengthening cancer prevention and control, accelerating the registration and approval of new anti-cancer drugs from both domestic and foreign markets, and facilitating temporary import channels for clinically urgent anti-cancer drugs” as priority implementation tasks.

“The Plan” explicitly states that research on the application of real-world clinical data may be conducted in the Pilot Zone. This means that clinical data generated from unregistered but clinically urgent imported drugs used in the Pilot Zone will help shorten the time to market for anticancer drugs, reduce the cost for global innovative medicines to enter the Chinese market, bring the world’s best medications to China, and enable more patients to benefit from the most advanced anticancer therapies available globally.

Director Gu stated that with the rapid development of commercial insurance, an increasing number of innovative institutions like MediTrust Health have launched products such as “MediCare,” which offer substantial coverage at a low cost. This represents a highly beneficial protection model for Chinese citizens. We also hope that, in the future, the policies of Boao Lecheng and MediTrust’s innovative solutions will be deeply and organically integrated to benefit more people in China.

“We know that the main characteristics of new international therapies, drugs, and medical devices are that they are ‘unavailable’ and ‘unaffordable.’ With strong support from national policies, the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone has already been able to address the issue of ‘unavailability.’ Therefore, we aim to solve the problem of ‘unaffordability’ through innovative commercial insurance solutions,” said Zhang Xiaodong, CEO of MediTrust Health.

In his introductory remarks, Zhang Xiaodong shared with the audience an overview of the current state of China’s pharmaceutical and healthcare market, as well as the pain points associated with healthcare payments. He pointed out, “Given China’s vast market and large patient population, why is it that many new anti-cancer drugs, which have been available abroad for years, remain difficult to access domestically?” One possible reason is that it typically takes several years for new anti-cancer drugs to be included in the national medical insurance catalog. Even after inclusion, many patient families still face the risk of falling into poverty due to medical expenses. For patients, the primary concern regarding anti-cancer medications is accessibility—being able to obtain the drugs—followed by affordability. Conversely, the harder a drug is to access, the higher its price tends to be. Today, alongside the accelerated approval and introduction of new drugs, it has become a reality in Boao, Hainan, for patients to access international anti-cancer drugs not yet launched in mainland China without leaving the country. This aligns with MediTrust Health’s mission: to deliver greater benefits to patients.

Speech by Zhang Xiaodong, CEO of MediTrust Health

Addressing the persistent challenges in China’s healthcare service landscape—such as difficulties and high costs in accessing medications, the regional fragmentation of medical insurance, and various pain points in pharmaceutical distribution—Zhang Xiaodong presented MediTrust Health’s innovative healthcare payment solutions to tackle these issues. Following the signing ceremony, CCTV conducted a special interview with Zhang Xiaodong, CEO of MediTrust Health, who stated:“We position ourselves as an enabler, leveraging B2B and B2C models to forge partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and insurers, thereby empowering patients and enabling commercial health insurance to better serve patients in China.”

MediTrust Health empowers commercial insurers, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, and patients by integrating online and offline retail channels to establish an integrated pharmacy benefit platform and ecosystem. By driving key stakeholders in the pharmaceutical ecosystem through innovative payment solutions, it delivers enhanced patient services. Leveraging its solutions, data, and supply chain capabilities, MediTrust Health empowers the entire ecosystem and provides financial protection for Chinese cancer patients who struggle to afford treatment.

MediTrust Health CEO Zhang Xiaodong Interviewed by CCTV

Indeed, in recent years, advanced therapies such as targeted drugs and immunotherapies have become increasingly prevalent in cancer treatment. However, due to the high unit price of these medications—often costing tens of thousands of yuan per box—they remain unaffordable for most ordinary citizens. Tian Meipan, General Manager of China Re Life Insurance, stated at the event, “Currently, China’s total annual healthcare expenditure exceeds RMB 4 trillion, of which approximately RMB 1.5–2 trillion is paid out-of-pocket by individuals. In 2018, the total claims and benefits paid by the health insurance industry amounted to over RMB 170 billion, accounting for less than 10% of the total. This indicates that the payment function of commercial insurance has not been fully leveraged.”

In recent years, with the continuous rise in household income and growing insurance awareness among Chinese residents, coupled with an increasing public demand for a better quality of life, China’s commercial health insurance sector has entered a phase of rapid development. From 2011 to 2018, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of gross written premiums for health insurance nationwide was approximately 34.3%, making it a new growth engine for insurers and poised to maintain high-speed expansion over the long term.

Address by Tian Meipan, General Manager of China Re Life

It is foreseeable that commercial insurance will become a major payer of medical expenses in China in the future, serving as a robust supplement to social security.

It is well known that patients’ ability to pay is a significant factor in the widespread adoption of advanced medical technologies. According to rough estimates, approximately 600,000 Chinese citizens seek medical consultation and treatment abroad each year. These individuals do not travel overseas due to any lack of competence among domestic physicians; rather, the vast majority are drawn by access to the latest pharmaceuticals and medical devices available abroad.

It is reported that, given the current regulatory landscape, it takes at least five years for advanced innovative drugs and medical devices from abroad to enter the domestic market. This has led a large population to seek medical treatment and medications overseas. According to the latest “Report on Cancer Incidence and Mortality in China” released by the National Cancer Center of China, an average of seven people are diagnosed with cancer and four die from it every minute in China. There are two primary reasons for the relatively low survival rates in cancer treatment in China:First, the proportion of patients diagnosed at an early stage is low due to insufficient screening efforts and limited preventive awareness; second, the clinical application of effective new drugs lags behind that in Europe and the United States.

Furthermore, as cancer progresses to an advanced stage, the condition is generally severe, complex, and rapidly changing. Some patients have already developed drug resistance, necessitating a switch to alternative medications or the combination of multiple therapeutic modalities to control tumor progression. In this context, there is a pressing need to accelerate access to new drugs that have been legally marketed and proven effective through large-scale clinical trials internationally, thereby eliminating the “time lag” in drug availability between domestic and international markets.

Director Gu Gang also stated, “We hope that among the 600,000 Chinese patients who seek medical treatment abroad each year, a portion will choose to receive care in Boao Lecheng. A series of new policies on medication access in Hainan can significantly shorten the time it takes for global innovative drugs to enter the Chinese market. We hope the story depicted in ‘Dying to Survive’ will not be repeated.”

Novel specialty drugs from abroad typically face lengthy delays before becoming available in the Chinese market. With the emergence of Boao Lecheng as a new option, and supported by national policies, more people can now access needed medications in a timely, rational, and lawful manner, thereby maximizing survival benefits. The advent of innovative commercial insurance payment platforms has not only made advanced therapies and medical devices more affordable for patients but also boosted sales of new products for pharmaceutical companies. “Currently, more than 20 leading global pharmaceutical companies have partnered with MediTrust Health on innovative healthcare payment solutions, delivering over RMB 100 million in drug benefits to more than 100,000 patients. In the future, we hope to enable even more patients to access these benefits and services with greater convenience,” said Li Yongzhong, General Manager of Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., Ltd.

Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding General Manager Li Yongzhong Accepts Media Interview

It is reported that Shanghai Pharmaceuticals plans to establish its DTP (Direct-to-Patient) specialty drug business segment in Boao Lecheng, further leveraging its leading advantages in the logistics and warehousing of imported pharmaceuticals and medical devices, thereby reducing the time required for new drugs to reach patients in Lecheng. Currently, Zhongxie and Cardinal Health operate nearly 100 DTP pharmacies distributed across major cities nationwide, constituting the largest DTP channel for innovative drugs in China. In the future, should these new drugs be launched in the Chinese market, this scale and network advantage will enable immediate distribution through national channels, truly ensuring rapid and effective benefits for Chinese patients.

With strong support from the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Pilot Zone has transformed from a rural village into a new medical city, becoming one of the important windows for Hainan’s comprehensive deepening of reform and opening-up. It has created a favorable situation for the high-quality development of the international health tourism and high-end medical services industry, providing unique and robust conditions for further layout of overseas special drugs.

As a leading enterprise in innovative medical payment solutions in China, MediTrust Health is both the creator and practitioner of innovative payment solution models. Today, MediTrust Health’s payment model has become the preferred choice for pharmaceutical companies seeking to establish their presence in the out-of-hospital DTP (Direct-to-Patient) market. To date, more than 20 renowned domestic and international pharmaceutical enterprises have partnered with MediTrust Health to jointly create an additional retail channel for specialty anticancer drugs.

MediTrust Health and the Lecheng Administration Signing Ceremony

Zhang Xiaodong, CEO of MediTrust Health, commented on the signing: “We are honored to support Boao Lecheng in further establishing itself as a showcase for advanced medical services. Looking ahead, we will work together to foster high-quality development in the international health tourism and overseas specialty drug service industries.” Consistently adhering to its patient-centric core values, MediTrust Health has promoted the integrated innovation of healthcare and insurance services through deep collaborations with pharmaceutical and insurance companies. By caring for the healthy population and supporting cancer patients, the company contributes to the realization of the Healthy China 2030 initiative.