Puqin Elder Care Files IPO Prospectus: A Decade of Building a Standardized Long-Term Care System for the Disabled and Dementia-Affected Elderly with Over 700 Operational Metrics

“Book of Rites: The Operation of Rituals” states: “Therefore, people do not only treat their own parents as parents, nor do they only treat their own children as children.”

This statement constitutes the core of Puqin Elderly Care’s corporate culture and embodies the values of its employees.

Pulinqin, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Changsha, is among the first national chain elderly care service enterprises in China to serve disabled and demented elderly populations.

As of now, Pull Cheer operates 31 chain long-term care facilities across 17 cities in ten provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Hunan, Hainan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong, with over 5,000 operational beds. Notably, three of Pull Cheer’s projects were selected for the Special Action on Urban-Enterprise Collaboration for Inclusive Elderly Care launched by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) this year.

Photos of Puqin Facilities (Source: Provided by the Company)

To gain a deeper understanding of the development path and business model of Puqin Elderly Care, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) conducted an exclusive interview with Tang Wenxiang, founder and chairman of Puqin.

In 2006, Tang Wenxiang perceived a ceiling in the pharmaceutical industry, stating, “Private enterprises have no long-term development prospects in the pharmaceutical sector, as they lack robust R&D capabilities and do not possess a large pool of high-level talent.”

In this context, Tang Wenxiang began to reflect on his career planning. Born into a family with deep roots in both education and healthcare, he had never considered leaving the medical and health sector, whether in terms of personal resources or emotional commitment.

Therefore, the enterprises he sought needed to have strong prospects, operate in transparent and reputable sectors, maintain a sustained focus on life and human well-being, and feature manageable risks. After careful consideration, Tang Wenxiang entered the elderly care industry.

Tang Wenxiang told VCBeat that in 2006, elderly care was not yet referred to as an “industry,” but rather as a “public welfare undertaking.” When Pull Cheer Elderly Care was first established, it took a full year to complete its registration. He recalled that, because the Administration for Industry and Commerce did not recognize the concept of an “elderly care industry,” there were no more than ten enterprises nationwide registered under names containing “Elderly Care Industry Development Co., Ltd.” The elderly care industry was still in its nascent stage.

When Tang Wenxiang first entered the industry, there were no domestic precedents to follow. She led her team in conducting nearly 3,000 market surveys across Beijing, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Hainan, exploring the most vibrant business models currently prevalent in the sector. Leveraging her existing resources in the pharmaceutical and tourism industries, Tang initially piloted elderly care real estate and sojourn-based elderly care projects in Hainan. She later expanded into community-based home care initiatives, as well as projects focused on the experiential marketing and sales of rehabilitation assistive devices.

Plagued by the lack of a replicable business model, Puqin Elderly Care’s explorations have not proceeded smoothly. During this period, Tang Wenxiang’s mother fell ill and required family care, giving him a deeper understanding of aging and a more profound appreciation for caring for the lives of the elderly.

This caregiving experience made Tang Wenxiang realize that to succeed in the elderly care industry, one must focus on “essential needs.” Long-term care for seniors with disabilities and dementia represents a gap in the industry, offering significant market growth potential and strong demand.

After four years of exploration, in 2010, Pull Cheer officially committed to deepening its focus on institutional elderly care, positioning itself as an expert in the care of disabled and dementia-afflicted seniors. It pioneered the research, exploration, and practice of long-term care service systems in China, gradually forming a sustainable development model “centered on flagship institutions, supported by community-based facilities, and extending home-based services to cover communities.” This model encompasses elderly capability assessment, facility planning and layout, age-friendly design and renovation, operational management, talent development, and quality evaluation.

In terms of operations, Puqin Elderly Care mainly carries out chain replication through three methods:

1. Self-built and self-operated: Puqin directly leases idle social properties for renovation, refurbishment, operation, and management;

Second, entrusted operation, which involves managing the operations of public and private elderly care institutions by providing specialized teams and operational management models to enhance operational efficiency and professional service capabilities;

Third, equity cooperation, which involves taking equity stakes in or acquiring various types of elderly care institutions through capital contributions, fixed assets, and other means;

In terms of management structure, Puqin implements a three-tier management system. The headquarters serves as the first tier, providing support and guidance for chain-wide management; regional subsidiaries constitute the second tier, overseeing the management of institutions within their respective regions; and individual facility sites form the third tier, responsible for single-site institutional management. This framework is supported by a comprehensive budgeting system, a performance management system, process and data management, regular operational meetings, and a management reporting system. The coordinated interaction among performance monitoring, financial management, management reporting, and operational meeting subsystems establishes a closed-loop control mechanism.

Regarding the core advantages of this architectural framework, Tang Wenxiang highlighted three key points:

First, low capital investment. Puqin Elderly Care adopts an asset-light model, leasing and renovating facilities rather than owning them.

Second, the radiation range is wide. A network can cover a region;

Third, it is sustainable and highly replicable. This model can be adopted by every city for its layout.

In addition to establishing a standardized operational management system at the macro level, Puqin Elderly Care has also made significant efforts to refine service details within its facilities. Upon admission, residents undergo an initial capability assessment, followed by a re-assessment after a few days of observation. Based on these evaluations, a personalized care plan is developed and the appropriate level of care is determined. Caregivers strictly adhere to this plan to provide scientific and professional care, with services encompassing daily living assistance, health monitoring, rehabilitation training, nutritional dietary management, recreational activities, and medical nursing.

After a period of care, the facility will conduct a reassessment of capabilities and adjust the care plan. The entire process forms a dynamic cyclical system.

After nine years of exploration, Pull Cheer Elderly Care has now perfected its operational model, clarified internal regularities, established standardized rules, and built a talent support system. According to VCBeat, Pull Cheer Elderly Care has developed over 700 standardized indicators. The company is set to embark on the third phase of its development: implementing this business logic and further promoting it across various regions.

Currently, elderly care services in society are broadly categorized into three groups: the first comprises high-end elderly care, such as premium retirement communities; the second consists of government-backed basic elderly care, including welfare institutions that fall under the scope of essential support; and the third encompasses ordinary citizens and the working class, who lack the financial capacity for high-end care yet do not qualify for government-subsidized basic support.

Among the target demographics of Puqin Elderly Care, the service focus is on the third category of individuals, further refined as: those who have the means or desire to hire a nanny for home-based care but are ultimately compelled to choose institutional elderly care due to various constraints.

This demographic precisely overlaps with the target population for inclusive elderly care services. In Tang Wenxiang’s view, elderly care is fundamentally a professional service that should not be simplistically categorized into high-, mid-, or low-end segments; rather, it is an issue of aligning price with service quality. Pull Cheer Elderly Care and “inclusive elderly care” are currently seeking the optimal point of integration.

When discussing the selection of its three projects as part of the first batch of the “City-Enterprise Collaboration for Inclusive Elderly Care” initiative, Tang Wenxiang smiled and said, “We do not consider having three selected projects something to boast about. Pull Cheer’s actual aim is to promote the overall development of inclusive elderly care, further addressing current challenges in the sector, such as how facilities should be allocated and who should be responsible for their construction.”

However, no single enterprise can achieve inclusive elderly care on its own. Tang Wenxiang concluded by stating that Pull Cheer is more willing to serve as a promoter of inclusive elderly care. He also called on practitioners dedicated to this field to prioritize the needs of ordinary citizens, safeguard their quality of life, and provide the best possible services within their capabilities.