Dezhou's 5.8 Million Residents Receive National Day 'Livelihood Dividend': JianGongTi Powers Healthy Dezhou Initiative

On September 30, the People’s Government of Dezhou City, Shandong Province, and WeDoctor Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Dezhou. The two parties will fully leverage digital technologies to jointly establish a “Health Service Consortium” in Dezhou, featuring integrated coordination across medical care, pharmaceuticals, health insurance, and elderly care, as well as collaborative synergy at the municipal, county, township, and village levels. This initiative aims to enhance the quality of medical services and improve the health outcomes of Dezhou’s residents. The successful launch of this project serves as a National Day welfare benefit for the 5.8 million residents of Dezhou.

In July this year, the Dezhou Municipal Government issued the “Dezhou Medical and Elderly Care Health Industry Development Plan (2018–2022)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”). The Plan proposes positioning the medical and elderly care health industry as a key pillar for the transition from old to new growth drivers, calls for the active introduction of advanced technologies, concepts, and models in the field of medical and elderly care health from both domestic and international sources, aims to establish a comprehensive medical and elderly care health industry system, and seeks to enhance the core competitiveness of the industry.

Data shows that in 2017, the added value of Dezhou’s medical and health care industry reached RMB 30.9 billion, accounting for 9.8% of the regional gross domestic product (GDP). As of June, there were 5,351 medical and health institutions at all levels, including 110 hospitals. The total number of hospital beds was 22,259, and there were 27,581 professional technical personnel.

Liu Bingguo, Deputy Secretary of the Dezhou Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Dezhou, stated in his speech that while Dezhou has a solid foundation for the development of its medical and health industry, the city still faces an overall shortage of medical resources, a lack of high-end medical services, and an uneven distribution of healthcare assets. There is therefore an urgent need to leverage digital solutions to drive the upgrading of Dezhou’s healthcare sector.

By partnering with WeDoctor Group, both parties will leverage their respective strengths to provide implementation, construction, and operational services in accordance with the “Five Enablers” framework—namely, scientifically regulated by the government, efficiently utilized by institutions, freely accessible for physician downward mobility, self-managed by users, and openly participatory for the industry. The ultimate goal is to establish 10 specialized municipal medical alliances and one municipal internet hospital.

At the village level, standardized diagnosis and treatment for 50 common diseases are implemented through the “21st Century Barefoot Doctors” program; at the township level, cloud-based mobile clinic vehicles facilitate family doctor contract services, standardized diagnosis and treatment for 100 common diseases, and rotating “Mobile Hospital” services; at the county level, a digital medical consortium delivers standardized diagnosis and treatment protocols and systems for 300 common diseases, integrates with provincial and municipal specialist alliances, and achieves a county-level healthcare utilization rate of over 90%; at the municipal level, digital healthcare collaboration platforms, prescription circulation platforms, centralized procurement platforms for pharmaceuticals and medical consumables, smart administrative service platforms, and integrated medical-elderly care platforms are established to realize information interoperability among medical services, pharmaceuticals, and health insurance.

Meanwhile, leveraging public medical institutions in Dezhou, an Outpatient Chronic Disease Service Center will be established. Through the WeDoctor Chronic Disease Internet Hospital, patients will receive “one-stop” pharmaceutical services, including electronic prescribing by physicians, electronic prescription review by pharmacists, medication dispensing by retail pharmacies, and home delivery via logistics.

As a collaborative initiative for industrial development within the Dezhou Health Community, both parties will leverage the Dezhou Solar Town to introduce investment and construct the “Dezhou Huatuo Health Town.” This project aims to create an industrial cluster led by a digital health industry platform, integrating medical care, health management, wellness, rehabilitation, and consumer-oriented health products and services, thereby accelerating the rapid development of Dezhou’s digital medical and health industry.

Liao Jieyuan, CEO of WeDoctor Group, stated that the implementation of the Health Community will help achieve a “dual improvement” in Dezhou’s medical and health services and residents’ health levels, as well as a “decline” in medical insurance costs. He further expressed the hope to truly realize the transition from a disease-centered approach to a health-centered one through standardized diagnosis and treatment, prevention and control of major diseases, and chronic disease management.