Ping An Good Doctor Reports 102.4% Revenue Surge in H1 2019 Driven by Strong Growth in Online Healthcare

On August 6, Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company Limited (stock abbreviation: “PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR,” 1833.HK), a globally leading healthcare ecosystem platform, announced its interim results for 2019. The report showed that in the first half of 2019, all business segments of PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR maintained robust growth, achieving total revenue of RMB 2.273 billion, a year-on-year increase of 102.4%. Among these, the core business—online healthcare—continued to grow rapidly, generating operating revenue of RMB 336 million, up 80.5% year on year. Monthly paying users (MPU) at the end of the period reached 2.229 million, representing a 61.2% year-on-year increase.

In the first half of 2019, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR’s core business—online healthcare services—generated RMB 336 million in revenue, representing a year-on-year increase of 80.5%. Meanwhile, the company also demonstrated strong performance in key operational metrics on its internet platform: as of June 30, 2019, the number of registered users reached 289 million, an increase of 24.1 million from the end of 2018 and a cumulative increase of 61.3 million over the past 12 months; the monthly active users (MAU) and monthly paying users at the end of the period reached 62.7 million and 2.229 million, respectively.

Collaboration with commercial insurance providers and the adoption of membership models represent key directions for the commercialization of online healthcare. As of June 30, 2019, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR’s paid membership products had cumulatively served over 1.4 million members. During the reporting period, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR actively expanded its collaborations with third-party commercial insurance companies and financial institutions. By the end of July 2019, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR had signed strategic cooperation agreements with Founder Meiji Life Insurance, Zhujiang Life Insurance, Minsheng Life Insurance, and China Everbright Bank, respectively. Leveraging its own advantages and diverse membership offerings, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR aims to facilitate business model upgrades and enhance policyholder services for insurance and financial institutions, jointly addressing the pain points and challenges faced by insurance and financial customers in accessing medical care.

As its ecosystem network continues to expand, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR is providing partners with comprehensive empowerment spanning services, operations, and technology. Meanwhile, the expansion of offline channels has driven substantial traffic to its online platform and attracted potential paying users, building momentum for accelerated monetization of its internet platform. The overall efficiency of PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR’s ecosystem network is rapidly improving, enabling the company to offer users a richer array of healthcare services while fully supporting the rapid growth of its various business lines.

Since 2018, the Chinese government has successively introduced multiple policies to encourage the development of the “Internet + Healthcare” industry. In June 2019, the State Council released the Key Tasks for Deepening the Reform of the Medical and Healthcare System in 2019, emphasizing that relevant departments must complete the formulation of policies regarding fees for internet-based medical consultations and their coverage by medical insurance by the end of September 2019. Recent information from the official website of the National Healthcare Security Administration indicates that detailed rules on fees for internet-based healthcare are currently being drafted, with the initial draft completed; these detailed rules are expected to be issued by the end of September. The Chinese government’s accelerated and intensive rollout of various policies underscores its steadfast commitment to continuously deepening and advancing the “Internet + Healthcare” initiative.

In active response to policy initiatives, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR has leveraged its mature internet platform operational capabilities and its globally leading AI-assisted diagnosis and treatment system. In January 2019, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR officially announced the launch of its “4+1” strategy, comprising Hospital Cloud, Pharmacy Cloud, Clinic Cloud, Village Doctor Cloud, and internationalization.

Hospital Cloud Helps Governments and Hospitals Reduce Burdens and Increase Efficiency. As of June 30, 2019, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR had entered into strategic cooperation agreements with nearly 50 offline hospitals and gradually commenced the construction of an internet hospital management platform integrating three functions: an online diagnosis and treatment platform, a prescription sharing platform, and a commercial insurance and medical insurance payment platform. Meanwhile, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR has fully considered the current conditions of governments at all levels and medical institutions across China to develop tailored solutions, assisting governments in establishing efficient, orderly, and secure management platforms, connecting the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and medical insurance systems, improving industry efficiency, and implementing government policies and requirements for internet hospitals. In July 2019, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Health Commission of Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, to jointly build internet hospitals for all hospitals under its jurisdiction.

Cloud Empowerment Enables Pharmacies to Create a New Retail Format. As of the end of the reporting period, more than 32,000 new retail pharmacies have been integrated with a series of medical and health services provided by PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR, including online consultations and one-hour medication delivery.

Clinic Cloud Comprehensively Enhances Primary Care Diagnosis and Treatment Capabilities. As of the end of June 2019, 47,000 clinics had been connected to Clinic Cloud, and nearly 3,000 clinics had integrated with the medical insurance reimbursement and payment system.

Meanwhile, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR actively assumes social welfare responsibilities and works closely with local Chinese governments to advance the “Village Doctor” initiative. During the reporting period, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR provided high-tech products and services—including a dedicated mobile application for village doctors, laboratory testing equipment, and multi-scenario remote training—to rural physicians in impoverished and remote areas of Guangxi, Jiangxi, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, and other regions. As of June 30, 2019, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR had upgraded more than 600 rural clinics and trained over 7,000 village doctors.

In June 2019, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR officially launched its strategic new product, “PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR Private Doctor,” to provide comprehensive, high-quality medical and health services for children, adults, the elderly, and patients with chronic diseases. By leveraging a team of experts comprising one-on-one exclusive private doctors and renowned specialists from the top 100 hospitals in China, the service offers users all-around proactive medical and health solutions, including 24/7 online consultation, second opinions from renowned specialists, arrangement of offline outpatient visits, health management, and chronic disease management.

This innovative private physician model precisely addresses user needs by fostering interactions between doctors and users/members, gradually establishing doctor-patient relationships built on trust, professionalism, and long-term engagement. It creates a new healthcare service paradigm, delivering more precise and personalized medical and health services to users. Meanwhile, by providing proactive care services, it enables more timely and closely managed daily health behaviors, transforming the passive approach of “seeking medical attention only when ill” into “proactive health management,” thereby offering users a completely new healthcare service experience.

While expanding its domestic market, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR is also exporting its robust technological capabilities and extensive experience in internet healthcare operations to overseas markets. In 2018, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR established a joint venture with Grab, the largest O2O platform in Southeast Asia. Following market research, the joint venture selected Indonesia as the first country for its business launch. With a population of 640 million, Southeast Asia is home to nearly half of this number in Indonesia alone, where medical resources are severely insufficient and there is an urgent need for advanced healthcare solutions. This presents significant growth potential for the internet healthcare market. It is expected that within this year, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR will be able to provide Indonesian users with a range of healthcare services, including online consultations and a health mall.

As a key component of its globalization strategy, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR officially entered Japan’s online healthcare market in 2019 by establishing a joint venture with SoftBank. The company has actively cultivated local strategic partnerships, including collaborations with hospitals, physicians, insurance companies, pharmacies, and logistics providers. Leveraging diverse local resources, leading AI technologies, and advanced experience in internet-based healthcare platforms, PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR aims to deliver convenient and high-quality healthcare services to users across Japan.

With the continuous advancement of technology and the widespread application of cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT), the quality and efficiency of medical services have been significantly enhanced. PINGAN GOOD DOCTOR is firmly seizing the opportunities presented by this technological transformation, deeply participating in and leading the tech-driven revolution in the healthcare industry. We are vigorously advancing our globalization strategy by engaging in deep cooperation with offline healthcare systems and medical service provider partners both domestically and internationally, providing users with high-quality medical resources on a global scale, and building the world’s largest healthcare ecosystem.