HealthEngine Marks Its Fourth Anniversary: Seizing New Opportunities in Medical Equipment Asset Management Amid Digital Transformation

As intelligence, informatization, and standardization gradually become the major trends in medical equipment asset management, the medical equipment service market has shifted from mere equipment repair to comprehensive lifecycle management of medical devices. This transition poses significant challenges to enterprises, as traditional third-party maintenance service providers can no longer meet market demands.

Amid this trend, one company has consistently kept a firm grasp on emerging developments in the medical equipment management market. From its initial third-party maintenance and repair services to its current focus on medical equipment asset management, HealthEngine (Beijing) Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “HealthEngine Medical”) has emerged as a leader in the field of medical equipment management and services.

HealthEngine Medical focuses on providing hospitals with medical equipment asset management solutions, including installation, inspection, maintenance, repair, and corresponding value-added services. It has pioneered the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and internet-based elements into its service ecosystem, and independently developed systems such as a medical equipment maintenance management system, dynamic QR code-based repair reporting, and remote monitoring for large-scale medical equipment.

2019 marked the fourth year since the establishment of HealthEngine Medical. After four years of development, what achievements has HealthEngine Medical made? How has its strategic positioning evolved? What are its future plans? With these questions in mind, VCBeat conducted an exclusive interview with Wang Tongwei, the company’s founder and chairman.

Wang Tongwei, Founder and Chairman of HealthEngine Medical

Years of experience in the field of medical equipment maintenance and management have enabled the founding team of HealthEngine Medical to gradually identify a significant gap in hospital equipment management. This deficiency stems from weak institutional awareness, a tendency to prioritize procurement over management, insufficient staffing for equipment management and maintenance, technological monopolies held by original manufacturers, and inadequate national regulatory oversight.

Meanwhile, the founding team also observed: “China’s medical equipment management sector is plagued by market disorder and inconsistent service quality. Furthermore, due to the lack of relevant standards and regulations, hospitals have low acceptance of third-party service providers.” Alongside the emerging challenges in hospital asset management, opportunities for growth are arising for companies specializing in medical equipment management.

In 2015, HealthEngine was established. Benefiting primarily from the founding team’s extensive experience in medical equipment maintenance and management, as well as their substantial client resources, the company secured a base of loyal customers shortly after its inception.

At its inception, Wang Tongwei keenly realized that,Informatization and intelligence will be the development trends in medical equipment management. Therefore, while continuing its traditional maintenance operations, the company established an IT team dedicated to the research and development of medical equipment asset management tools. In recent years, as the informatization of medical equipment has gradually become a key focus for hospitals, the government has also introduced favorable policies. The strategic perspective of HealthEngine Medical has been validated, marking the entry of medical equipment management into the era of informatization.

By 2016, HealthEngine had already established a certain influence in the industry and earned a strong reputation. At this point, the company began to expand its hospital-wide medical equipment management services and extended its core business nationwide, entering a period of rapid growth.

The company’s operations are all centered around its development strategy. Initially, HealthEngine Medical’s strategic positioning was “to become an influential brand in the field of medical equipment management and services.”

After four years of business accumulation, HealthEngine Medical has realized that hospitals’ demand for equipment management services extends beyond mere maintenance or IT-enabled services.

HealthEngine Medical aims to becomeComprehensive Service Provider for Medical Equipment Asset Management, not only participates in equipment management but also provides related services such as training for biomedical engineering talent and data security,Help hospitals enhance their overall operational capabilities in asset management., to achieve intelligent and data-driven dynamic management of medical equipment, effectively reduce maintenance costs, improve operational efficiency, and realize comprehensive, refined management of medical devices.

Following business upgrades and strategic optimization, HealthEngine’s service system currently comprises the Remote Maintenance Guidance Platform, the Equipment Asset Management Platform, Medical Device Management Solutions, and the HealthEngine Academy.

The Remote Maintenance Guidance Platform primarily provides comprehensive remote support services to reduce equipment downtime and improve operational efficiency, while the Equipment Asset Management Platform enables data-driven management throughout the entire equipment lifecycle. Meanwhile, HealthEngine can also customize hospital-wide medical equipment management solutions for different clients to meet their diverse needs.

In terms of talent development, HealthEngine Medical pioneered the establishment of HealthEngine Academy, launching school-enterprise collaborations with major universities and offering various courses in medical equipment management and maintenance. Wang Tongwei noted, “The shortage of clinical engineering professionals is a severe challenge facing the entire industry.” HealthEngine Medical aims to cultivate more application-oriented professionals with hands-on practical skills in medical equipment, supplying the industry with newly trained, highly competent clinical engineering talents for the new era, and positioning itself as the “Whampoa Military Academy” of the medical equipment management field.

When it comes to competitiveness, Wang Tongwei believes: “At different stages, a company’s core competencies vary. During the first two years after its founding, HealthEngine Medical’s competitiveness lay in its experienced founding team and innovation in equipment management service models. In the following two years, the company’s competitiveness was more reflected in the rapid iteration of its service system.”

Moving forward, HealthEngine will continue to promote its medical equipment management services across China, increase its market share, help hospitals reduce equipment maintenance costs and achieve refined management of medical devices, while also fostering the healthy development of the medical equipment asset management sector.

Wang Tongwei stated, “The asset management of medical equipment is in an era of continuous transformation.” Relevant data show that at present, medical equipment maintenance is mainly divided into three models: in-house hospital repair, professional medical asset management companies, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) service, with market shares of 10%, 30%, and 60%, respectively.

On February 1, 2016, the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Quality in the Use of Medical Devices were promulgated. These measures clarified the legal status of medical asset management companies in undertaking the maintenance and servicing of hospital equipment, encouraging hospitals to entrust equipment management to more professional institutions with resource integration capabilities. This implies that the market share held by professional medical asset management institutions will continue to rise.

Wang Tongwei believes: “In the future, an increasing number of hospitals will trust and choose professional medical asset management firms with a certain scale, while existing small-scale, workshop-style service providers will gradually be eliminated by the market.”

Furthermore, with the advent of the 5G era, ubiquitous network coverage will become more widespread. The Medical Internet of Things (MIoT) can continuously acquire various types of data from devices and perform rapid analysis and processing based on the information obtained. Meanwhile, high-speed wireless networks will facilitate the broad adoption of remote maintenance guidance for medical equipment.

“Of course, the field of medical equipment asset management still faces numerous challenges. For instance, hospitals are imposing increasingly stringent requirements on the intelligent informatization management of equipment, the ability to integrate upstream and downstream resources, talent service capabilities, and the turnaround time for spare parts response. In response to customer needs, we will continuously refine our service system to strengthen the competitiveness of HealthEngine Medical.”

Wang Tongwei also remarked, “In the era of 5G and artificial intelligence, routine maintenance of medical equipment will become significantly simplified. It is foreseeable that in the future, most equipment maintenance and management tasks will be conducted through remote guidance. This means that maintenance engineers must continuously enhance their capabilities to evolve into expert engineers, providing specialized support and guidance for various equipment management projects.” Accordingly, HealthEngine (Beijing) Medical Technology Co., Ltd. will not limit its engineer training to technical maintenance skills alone; instead, it will help them improve their comprehensive competencies, including communication and project management abilities.