LeanTech Builds Virtual Hospital Zones via Mini Programs to Serve Chronic Disease Patients

Recently, the 2019 China Health Information Technology/Health and Medical Big Data Application Exchange Conference and Software & Healthcare Products Exhibition was held in Xi’an. The event attracted hospital presidents from thousands of hospitals across China and hundreds of healthcare IT experts. Healthcare IT companies showcased their innovations, creating a vibrant atmosphere. Notably, Leantech, a high-tech startup focused on building “Smart Healthcare,” made its debut with its “Internet Hospital Solution,” drawing significant attention and interest from industry professionals.

The internet is the core driver of healthcare reform and one of the nation’s key strategic priorities. Since the General Office of the State Council issued a document explicitly supporting “Internet + Healthcare,” the development of internet hospitals across China has surged. It seems as if internet hospitals sprang up nationwide overnight. Leantech, having long prepared for this moment, seized the opportunity to revitalize its business by riding the wave of “Internet+” and leveraging policy benefits, positioning itself at the forefront of internet hospital development. Luo Dongxin, CEO of Leantech, told VCBeat: “The new regulations on internet-based diagnosis and treatment issued by the General Office of the State Council have removed the final constraint on Leantech.”

Leantech, established in October 2013 and headquartered within the National University Science Park of Shanghai University of Engineering Science, is a supplier specializing in smart healthcare-related products and solutions. The company operates R&D centers in Suzhou Science Park, Xi’an Software Park, and Nanjing Software Park, and maintains business representatives in Hefei, Wuhan, Nanchang, Chengdu, and other cities.

At its inception, Leantech primarily served as a developer for the military’s health information sector. Within six months, it successfully launched multiple medical logistics informatization products, including the Field Medical Unit Treatment Information System and the Health Materials Management System. In 2014, before the concept of “Internet Hospital” had even been proposed, Leantech—then only one year old—began collaborating with Grade A tertiary hospitals to explore models for building online hospitals, and in 2015, it successfully launched the “Online Hospital” application.

Since 2015, Leantech has entered into cooperation agreements with nearly 100 Grade 3A hospitals, positioning itself for rapid growth. In early 2017, following the launch of WeChat Mini Programs, Leantech, as a long-standing partner of WeChat, decided to leverage this platform to build an “Internet + Healthcare” consumer-oriented health service system. In May 2018, Leantech launched China’s first WeChat Mini Program for a Grade 3A hospital.

In September 2018, the National Health Commission issued several policies, including the “Administrative Measures for Internet Hospitals (Trial),” which established detailed regulatory frameworks for market access, practice standards, and supervision of internet-based diagnosis and treatment, internet hospitals, and telemedicine. Upon the release of these policies, Leantech immediately contacted qualified hospitals.

Leantech has shifted its offline services online, offering customized development of virtual internet hospitals for physical hospitals, thereby breaking through conventional spatial constraints in medical care and enabling patients to receive diagnosis and treatment without leaving their homes.

When discussing the impetus behind Leantech’s entry into the internet hospital sector, Luo Dongxin, CEO of Leantech, stated, “In fact, I also fall ill and am a patient myself. I, too, expect to receive convenient services when seeking medical care. Our move into the internet hospital space is essentially an extension of this personal perspective.”

As an early explorer and practitioner of the “Internet + Healthcare” model, Leantech reaped the rewards swiftly. In early 2019, with strong support from Yangjiang People’s Hospital in Guangdong Province, Leantech successfully launched its first internet hospital. To date, Leantech has participated in the launch of Guangdong Province’s first and second batches of internet hospitals, providing technical support to Yangjiang People’s Hospital and Zhaoqing First People’s Hospital.

Luo Dongxin stated that after conducting a needs analysis involving patients, doctors, and hospitals, he identified numerous challenges and pain points in the healthcare market. For patients, the scarcity and highly uneven distribution of medical resources have made it difficult to access convenient medical services. For doctors, their deep institutional ties with healthcare facilities have trapped them in a professional dilemma characterized by low income, high work pressure, and strained doctor-patient relationships. For hospitals, tertiary hospitals and other large institutions are overcrowded, suffering from low diagnostic and treatment efficiency and long patient wait times, while secondary hospitals and those below this level see very few patients, facing the dual challenges of low patient volume and significant financial pressure on physicians’ incomes.

Thus, Leantech has become a trailblazer in the field of internet hospitals.

“Internet + Healthcare” has become one of China’s key national development strategies. As regulatory policies for internet hospitals have gradually become clearer, local governments have begun to embrace this model. Luo Dongxin stated that Leantech, building upon its physical hospital infrastructure, has developed a WeChat Mini Program into a patient-centric internet hospital. This platform enables online follow-up consultations for certain common and chronic diseases, optimizes various hospital services for patients, and thereby establishes a new online medical service workflow.

According to Luo Dongxin, Leantech’s Internet Hospital leverages WeChat Mini Programs, Official Accounts, and PC-based interfaces to build a platform that supports patients throughout the entire online healthcare journey—pre-consultation, during consultation, and post-consultation. The system primarily consists of two major platforms and three application endpoints.

The two major platforms are the Prescription Circulation Platform and the Hospital Management Platform; the three application terminals are the Doctor Terminal, the Patient Terminal, and the Pharmacy Terminal.

The prescription circulation platform connects hospitals, pharmacies, and patients to enable the sharing of prescription information, with management overseen by a prescription review center and a regulatory platform. The hospital management platform manages hospital departments and physician scheduling information, adopting a “fixed scheduling” model. Fees are determined through “uniform pricing based on physician professional titles,” thereby ensuring alignment between physicians’ service capabilities and income levels, and promoting the sustainable operation of internet-based outpatient services.

On the physician side, doctors can consult patients via video or voice calls, apply electronic signatures to prescriptions, and review consultation audio records. This creates an online clinic for physicians, providing a complete end-to-end online healthcare process and a channel for consultation requests. On the pharmacy side, once pharmacies receive approved prescriptions, they automatically accept medication delivery orders or download the prescription slips for dispensing, followed by drug delivery.

After patients conduct face-to-face video consultations with physicians through the internet hospital’s video outpatient service, physicians can make diagnoses based on the patients’ examination and test results. They can then issue corresponding medical orders and generate electronic prescriptions via either a PC terminal or a mobile mini-program. Once patients complete payment and schedule examinations through their mobile devices, they may choose to pick up their medications in person or have them delivered. The medications are then dispensed from the hospital pharmacy or shipped online, providing greater convenience for patients.

It is important to note that pharmacists serve as critical “gatekeepers” in this process, as all electronic prescriptions issued by physicians must undergo pharmacist review. Internet hospital systems ensure safe and effective medication use by granting pharmacists the authority to conduct online medication reviews and supervision.

Luo Dongxin emphasized that, particularly for patients with chronic diseases requiring long-term prescriptions and follow-up visits, the integration of internet outpatient services and online pharmacy workflows essentially enables them to receive medical consultations and home delivery of medications without leaving their homes.

WeChat has become an indispensable app in the lives of most people. Its Official Accounts, Moments, group chats, and Mini Programs form an integrated platform. Moreover, Mini Programs inherently possess social attributes; when leveraged in the right scenarios, they can achieve viral traffic growth through social networks. Luo Dongxin stated, “Internet hospitals built on Mini Programs require no downloading, installation, or registration—they are ready to use upon scanning. This makes them particularly suitable for middle-aged and elderly patients, who constitute the majority of hospital visitors.”

As the “Internet Plus” model transitions from concept to reality, traditional offline systems face numerous bottlenecks, making it a major future trend to leverage the internet to transform the current state of the offline healthcare industry. Luo Dongxin told VCBeat that in 2019, Leantech aims to promote its internet hospital products to broader regions. Additionally, Leantech’s international division is currently under active development.