WeDoctor Showcases Digital Health Community at World Internet Conference, Highlighting Digital Health as a Key Focus

Amidst the whitewashed walls, black-tiled roofs, small bridges, and flowing streams, the light of the world’s internet once again illuminated the millennium-old water town of Wuzhen. From October 20 to 22, the 6th World Internet Convention arrived as scheduled, bringing together more than 1,500 guests from over 80 countries in this Jiangnan town enveloped by technology. 5G, artificial intelligence, and digital health emerged as the most frequently discussed topics at this international event.

Recently, the World Health Organization released the Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020–2024, establishing strategic objectives and an action framework to guide countries in advancing their digital health visions. For the first time, the World Internet Conference placed a spotlight on “Digital Health.” Wuzhen, which pioneered China’s “Internet+” era of medical innovation, has thus become a vital source driving the accelerated development of digital healthcare in China. During the conference, a series of events centered on digital health and healthcare communities were held in Wuzhen.

“The internet is a natural tool for breaking through the constraints of time and space, and digital health will become one of the important tracks in the digital economy over the next 20 years.” Liao Jieyuan, founder of WeDoctor, expressed strong confidence in the development of digital health. After establishing China’s first internet hospital, Wuzhen Internet Hospital, in 2015, WeDoctor this year introduced its Digital Health Community solution, refined over more than nine years. This initiative explores how digital tools can support the Healthy China Action, while also contributing a “Chinese solution” to addressing common global health challenges and helping China and other developing countries achieve poverty alleviation through healthcare improvements.

Digital Upgrade of Wuzhen Internet Hospital

WeDoctor Booth Debuts at the "Light of the Internet" Expo

On October 20, the opening day of the conference, domestic and international guests—including government officials, industry experts, and entrepreneurs—gathered in the water town of Wuzhen for the High-Level Forum on “Internet Plus Healthy China Initiative.” They shared innovative practices under the “Healthy China” framework and discussed how digital platforms can better advance the Healthy China Initiative.

In the global digital era, China is becoming fertile ground for the international digital health industry. Digital health platforms that integrate advanced technologies such as “5G + artificial intelligence + big data” are emerging as a new engine driving China’s healthcare reform rapidly into the 3.0 era. Xie Ruiqian, Director of the Office of the Healthy China Action Promotion Committee, stated that the development of Healthy China is currently entering a critical phase. He expressed hope that digital technologies, including the internet, can leverage their advantages in promoting the equitable allocation of medical resources, disease prevention and control, and health promotion, thereby better meeting the public’s health needs.

Address by Bai Shuzhong, Lifetime Honorary Chairman of the China Health Promotion Foundation

Bai Shuzhong, Lifetime Honorary Chairman of the China Health Promotion Foundation, stated in his address that digital health management can not only break down information silos among health management service institutions and establish big data for medical health services covering a wide scope and large populations, but also promote the integration and interoperability of online and offline services, thereby truly achieving the goals of “preventing major diseases, managing chronic diseases, and promoting health.”

At the conference, government leaders including Zhang Tao, Mayor of Tai’an Municipal People’s Government in Shandong Province; Liu Changmin, Member of the Standing Committee of the Dezhou Municipal Party Committee and Executive Vice Mayor of Dezhou City in Shandong Province; Liu Ying, Vice Mayor of Pingdingshan Municipal People’s Government in Henan Province; and Xiao Shixuan, Deputy Director of the General Office of Sanming Municipal People’s Government in Fujian Province and Executive Director of the Fujian Medical Reform Research Association, delivered speeches successively, sharing practical experiences in implementing digital health communities to support the “Healthy China Action.”

Building on its “Internet + Healthcare” collaboration, the Pingdingshan Municipal Government has further upgraded its partnership by signing a strategic cooperation agreement with WeDoctor to establish a Digital Health Community. Liu Ying, Deputy Mayor of Pingdingshan, stated in her address that after two years of close collaboration, WeDoctor and Pingdingshan have jointly pioneered the “Pingdingshan Model” for Internet + Healthcare. Moving forward, both parties will deepen their efforts to implement the Digital Health Community in Pingdingshan, creating an upgraded version of the “Pingdingshan Model.”

In his keynote address, Zhang Xiaochun, co-founder of WeDoctor, introduced that the WeDoctor Digital Health Community is health-centric and supported by a digital platform. It integrates supply-side resources for chronic disease services to establish a disease prevention and control system featuring “online + offline” integration, connectivity across city, county, township, and village levels, and interoperability among medical care, pharmaceuticals, and insurance. Online, it will create dedicated zones for specific diseases and close the loop on internet-based diagnosis and treatment services. Offline, in collaboration with local health communities, it will provide insurance-covered services for specific diseases (including chronic conditions) to residents at the city, county, township, and village levels. This approach aims to substantially enhance regional disease management, improve disease awareness and treatment rates, reduce complications, and effectively alleviate the financial burden on local medical insurance funds and patients’ out-of-pocket expenses for medical care and medications.

Amid the backdrop of China’s new healthcare reforms, intensifying market competition has made it imperative for most pharmaceutical companies to address a critical challenge: how to seize digital opportunities for upgrading and transformation, leverage external resources and trends to establish an efficient, low-cost pharmaceutical marketing model, and build absolute market competitiveness. In this context, the WeDoctor Digital Health Platform has emerged as the preferred solution for large domestic and foreign pharmaceutical enterprises seeking high-quality innovative transformation in the Chinese market.

At the “Internet+ Empowering the Healthy China Initiative – Digital Health Strategy Launch Event” held that afternoon, and witnessed by Bai Shuzhong, Lifetime Honorary Chairman of the China Health Promotion Foundation; Ding Haihuan, Senior Vice President of WeDoctor; Wu Xiaobin, President of BeiGene China; Xu Haiying, General Manager of Harbin Pharmaceutical Group; Tian Zhoushan, General Manager of Nanjing Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical; and leaders from more than 20 domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies, China’s first digital specialized disease health community was officially launched. Well-known pharmaceutical companies such as BeiGene, Conba, Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, Qilu Pharmaceutical, Chia Tai Tianqing, and Ascletis Pharma became the first batch of strategic partners in this specialized disease health community.