YouYou Baby Children's Hospital IPO Prospectus: Leveraging Chongqing Medical University Affiliated Children's Hospital Resources to Ensure High-Quality Pediatric Care

Child-friendly interior design, play facilities at every turn, and colorful “cars” racing along tracks… If not explicitly stated, one would surely assume this is a kindergarten or an amusement park. In reality, however, it is a hospital—Chongqing Youyou Baobei Children’s Hospital—which also represents an exploration of the new model in which public hospitals leverage social capital to provide medical services.

In recent years, the state has issued a dense array of policies to promote privately run medical institutions, with particularly specific measures targeting pediatrics, where there is a shortage of physicians. In 2016, six ministries and commissions jointly issued the “Opinions on Strengthening the Reform and Development of Children’s Medical and Health Services,” which proposed guiding and encouraging social forces to establish children’s hospitals and pediatric clinics, thereby forming a diversified landscape of healthcare provision to meet the diverse needs of children’s medical and health services. The “Opinions” also encouraged public hospitals to collaborate with privately run children’s hospitals and pediatric clinics.

Guided by policy, the Chongqing Youyou Baby Children's Hospital (hereinafter referred to as "Youyou Baby") project was launched in 2016, jointly established by Shuanghu Capital and the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (hereinafter referred to as "the Children's Hospital of CMU").

Following its completion, Youyou Baby Hospital commenced trial operations in October 2018. Positioned as a high-quality specialized children’s hospital, it leverages the premium expert resources and expedited referral pathways of the Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, serving as a closely integrated member of the university’s medical consortium.

As the hospital marks its first year of soft opening, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) conducted an on-site visit and, after interviewing multiple managers, shares insights into the hospital’s operational strategies.

Before getting to know Youyou Baobei, let’s first look at the following background:

On the China Hospital Rankings released by the Institute of Hospital Management, Fudan University, the Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University has consistently ranked third among pediatric hospitals nationwide. Drawn by its strong reputation, a large number of pediatric patients from southwestern China seek medical care there each year. Even in Chongqing itself, many anxious parents flock to this prestigious institution for treatment, even for common illnesses. According to data published on the hospital’s official website, in 2018, the hospital recorded 2.9314 million outpatient and emergency visits and 88,600 hospital admissions, with non-local patients accounting for nearly 40%. Today, despite having two campuses, the Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University still faces inevitable challenges, including extreme difficulty in securing appointments for popular specialties and consultations that often last only two to three minutes.

Amidst the broader context of scarce pediatric medical resources, Youyou Baby has chosen to address the aforementioned imbalance between supply and demand as its entry point, pursuing a differentiated positioning by establishing a high-quality, international children’s hospital to serve as a patient diversion channel for the Children’s Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University.

Chongqing Youyou Baobei Children's Hospital

As the investor, Shuanghu Capital has invested hundreds of millions of yuan to establish Youyou Baby, covering land acquisition, hospital construction, and operations. Jiao Hongjie, the head of medical investments at Shuanghu Capital, serves as the hospital president, overseeing comprehensive management of all hospital operations. As the partner hospital, the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University is responsible for providing core talent support. Li Mi, Medical Director; Mo Lin, Nursing Director; and Zhang Xuemei, Director of the Medical Affairs Department at Youyou Baby, all come from the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and are tasked with ensuring the highest standards of medical quality and safety.

Jiao Hongjie stated that during the hospital’s preparatory phase, the team also visited leading domestic private children’s hospitals, such as Beijing New Century Children’s Hospital and Shanghai Pubin Children’s Hospital, as well as international institutions including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Mayo Clinic, to learn advanced service processes and management concepts, and to discuss collaborations in talent development and patient referrals.

Youyou Baby Hospital was built in accordance with the national standards for Grade III hospitals. Its Phase I construction covers a floor area of 40,000 square meters, with a capacity of 300 beds, and it officially commenced trial operations in October 2018. Currently, Youyou Baby Hospital comprises two major centers: the Pediatric Medical Center and the Child Health Management Center. It offers 18 departments, including General Pediatrics, Respiratory Medicine, Neurology, Height Management and Endocrinology, Child Healthcare, Pediatric Rehabilitation, and Language Specialty Clinics, among others. At present, 45 beds are in operation.

As a closely integrated member of the Medical Consortium affiliated with the Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Youyou Baby can share its high-quality resources. The Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University dispatches more than 40 chief and associate chief physicians to Youyou Baby on a weekly basis to conduct outpatient consultations, lectures, ward rounds, surgeries, and case consultations. Full-time medical and nursing staff at Youyou Baby are recruited according to high standards; the hospital currently employs over 100 medical professionals, with the physician team predominantly holding master’s or doctoral degrees.

At Youyou Baby, physician consultations have a minimum duration. The specific time limit varies by department and condition, typically ranging from 15 to 20 minutes, to ensure thorough communication between the physician, the pediatric patient, and the parents, thereby safeguarding the quality of medical care.

In traditional medical practice, tension in doctor-patient relationships primarily stems from information asymmetry and inadequate communication. However, achieving thorough doctor-patient dialogue is challenging for public hospitals given their high patient volumes. Furthermore, due to the specialized nature of medical knowledge, even when sufficient time is available for interaction, doctors may lack the ability to translate complex professional terminology into layman’s terms for patients. To address this issue, Youyou Baby has introduced a 3D human anatomy system that visually displays various bodily systems, including organs, muscles, blood vessels, and skin. Doctors can select specific areas on the system’s screen as needed to explain treatment plans to pediatric patients and their parents on-site, thereby enhancing communication efficiency.

Doctors Use 3D Human Anatomy Systems to Communicate Patient Conditions

Registration fees for doctors at Youyou Baby range from 98 to 800 yuan, depending on their professional titles. “The establishment of this fee structure reflects our respect for the labor value of medical personnel,” said Jiao Hongjie. Based on thorough consultations, the hospital has reduced the proportion of medication costs. After one year of soft opening, the hospital currently sees an average daily outpatient volume of approximately 280–300 visits. However, due to its time-slot appointment system, it rarely experiences the overcrowding typical of public hospitals, except during peak hours. This approach effectively alleviates parental anxiety, creates a more comfortable and quiet environment, and reduces the risk of common nosocomial cross-infections among children.

In terms of payment, Youyou Baby draws on international healthcare payment models and advocates for a closed-loop payment system via direct billing with commercial insurance providers, thereby offering more convenient and efficient diagnosis and treatment services to insured patients. Currently, the hospital has established direct settlement arrangements with companies such as BUPA, MSH International, Cigna & CMB, and Generali China Life.

If private children’s hospitals focus primarily on treating common illnesses, they can serve as a complement to public hospitals. However, Youyou Baby leverages the expert resources of the Children’s Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University and is not limited to the treatment of common conditions. According to Jiao Hongjie, the hospital provides in-depth, disease-specific management for a wide range of conditions, including asthma, snoring disorders, short stature, tic disorders, eczema, hernia, polydactyly, and clubfoot. Additionally, patients can request consultations with designated experts for complex and critical cases. If necessary, referrals can be made to the Children’s Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University or to overseas institutions, such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Mayo Clinic.

Therefore, Youyou Baby deliberately chose a location next to the Lijia Campus of the Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, an area where transportation and commercial facilities are not yet fully developed. “This arrangement facilitates both the work of medical experts and patient referrals,” said Jiao Hongjie.

In addition to strictly controlling medical quality, Youyou Baby has expanded the breadth and depth of children's health management. It provides comprehensive and continuous management for areas such as growth and development, feeding, learning difficulties, speech delay, and child psychological behavior, with featured services including speech assessment and training, child psychological assessment and intervention, and cognitive training.

“We have found in practice that parents’ anxiety about child-rearing is difficult to resolve through verbal communication during outpatient visits,” said Huang Hongmei, Director of the Youyou Baby Child Health Management Center. She noted that the feeding guidance provided by doctors often appears abstract to parents. Therefore, Youyou Baby emphasizes a family-centered approach and has established a Family Parenting Workshop for real-world, scenario-based instruction. The workshop features designated areas for sleep, cooking, dining, and interactive teaching, which are used to provide instruction on infant sleep habits, complementary food preparation, children’s eating behaviors, and daily living routines, respectively.

In-Hospital Play Area

"Pediatric health management is a long-term process. 'Health management is not only about identifying and promptly addressing issues, but also about assessing children's strengths to facilitate the development of their potential,' said Huang Hongmei."

Youyou Baby not only provides high-quality diagnostic, treatment, and healthcare services for children, but also offers customized health management solutions for families seeking premium care, enabling children to grow up healthy in a more scientific manner. To this end, Youyou Baby has integrated its medical expertise, advanced medical equipment, and multi-departmental collaborative resources over a period of time, and is about to launch a membership-based service known as “Customized Health Management.”

“Customized Health Management” services tailor corresponding healthy growth plans to children’s different age stages. Through regular monitoring and follow-up of oral health and vision, we help children build greater self-confidence from an early age. By conducting assessments of language skills, attention, intelligence, and logical reasoning, we identify each child’s talents and areas for improvement, thereby nurturing their strengths and reinforcing weaker skills. Through home visits, we evaluate and provide guidance on the family caregiving environment, risks related to allergens, and risks of falls and accidental injuries, creating a safer, healthier, and more comfortable growth environment for children.

In addition to customized health management services, members can enjoy over ten major benefits, including priority in-hospital consultations, a green channel for the transfer of children with complex or critical conditions to pediatric specialists, 24-hour convenient services (general pediatrics), additional appointment slots with specialists, priority vaccination services, dietary planning, exercise programs, general practice family doctors, home visits by medical staff, on-demand selection of specialists, customized vaccination services, and access to overseas hospital resources. Users become members by topping up their accounts, with membership tiers and corresponding benefits determined by the amount of the one-time deposit.

Yang Nihong, Marketing Director of Youyou Baobei, stated that customized high-end services integrate medical and health management resources, facilitating patients’ better access to long-term hospital care. “However, we will cap membership numbers based on the hospital’s existing medical staff size and service capacity to ensure service quality.”

Within the campus of Youyou Baby, traditional hospital fixtures such as registration and payment counters are nowhere to be seen.

“We aim to ‘de-medicalize’ the environment, making it look less like a hospital,” said Jiao Hongjie. He noted that achieving this goal requires more than just colorful decorations and play facilities scattered throughout the space. Youyou Baby has significantly revamped its medical care process: steps that previously required parents to rush back and forth are now handled by medical staff, mobile diagnostic equipment, and in-hospital logistics systems.

For example, after parents schedule an appointment via the hospital’s official WeChat account, they simply need to arrive at the consulting room at the scheduled time. Once the physician completes the consultation, if medication is prescribed, parents can pay directly through their mobile devices. The hospital information system then synchronizes the prescription data with the pharmacy, and the medications are delivered to the pickup counter via the hospital’s internal logistics system. Parents can collect the medications on their way out. If diagnostic tests are required, medical staff can bring portable diagnostic equipment into the consulting room for immediate use; patients only need to visit the respective diagnostic departments when large-scale imaging or testing equipment is necessary.

 In-Hospital Logistics for Transporting Medications and Laboratory Samples: Colorful Carts Attract Attention from Young Patients

The hospital’s design also embodies humanistic care. For instance, the Pediatric Medical Center and the Child Health Management Sub-center are housed in separate buildings to prevent cross-infection. Within the Pediatric Medical Center, outpatient consultation rooms, the radiology department, and operating rooms are all located on the same floor, sparing parents from having to carry their children up and down multiple levels. The inpatient wards adopt a Z-shaped layout to ensure adequate ventilation and scenic views for every room. Dedicated staff corridors protect patient privacy. Additionally, the hospital provides multiple nursing rooms and family restrooms. All restroom stall doors feature anti-pinch designs, and in emergencies, the door panels can be removed and used as stretchers.

With the relaxation of the two-child policy and shifts in residents’ health awareness and consumption patterns, demand for pediatric medical care and child healthcare services has surged. “However, the supply side still falls short in providing high-quality medical services and environments,” said Jiao Hongjie. Youyou Baby will be developed as a flagship brand in Chongqing, initially focusing on building reputation and brand recognition, with the long-term goal of expanding nationwide. In the future, the hospital will not only provide medical services but also engage in scientific research and teaching. It aims to establish key specialties in endocrinology, respiratory medicine, neurology, and otolaryngology, among others. Amidst the shortage of pediatricians, the hospital will build a robust talent pipeline to lay a solid foundation for sustainable development.