Fushoukang Achieves 2.5 Million Annual Elderly Service Visits Through Integrated Care Model Linking Medical Nursing Stations, Day Care Centers, and Senior Care Homes

“In 2011, my father was in poor health. I returned from Japan to find rehabilitation-oriented nursing homes and hospitals for him, but after visiting several facilities, I found them all unsatisfactory,” said Zhang Jun, founder of Fushoukang (Shanghai) Family Services Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Fushoukang”).

Subsequently, Zhang Jun conducted a survey of the Shanghai market and concluded that 10% of the elderly population had rigid demand for rehabilitative care. At that time, however, Shanghai’s nursing homes offered fewer than 100,000 beds, indicating limited capacity. Most elderly individuals received rehabilitative nursing care at home, where in-home services were predominantly domestic housekeeping in nature. Recognizing the business opportunity, Zhang Jun established Fushoukang in late 2011.

Fushoukang has introduced advanced international nursing concepts, training systems, and service processes. Leveraging its independently developed interactive system for community-based elderly care services, it provides comprehensive “Internet + Medical-Nursing-Rehabilitation-Care” services to the elderly, frail, ill, and disabled individuals within communities, while pioneering a new operational model integrating “nursing stations, community respite care facilities, and clinics.”

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) has learned that, to date, Fushoukang, as one of the first designated service providers for Shanghai’s “Medical and Nursing Care Security Plan for the Elderly Aged 80 and Above” and the “Long-Term Care Insurance” program, has established 42 service stations, employs over 2,500 staff members, serves 25,000 clients, and delivers more than 2.5 million service visits annually.

Zhang Jun recalled that, compared to the present, the environment in the elderly care industry was less favorable in 2011. The internet was not as developed as it is today, there was no long-term care insurance, and there was a lack of payers.

Thus, Fushoukang leveraged hospitals as a strategic entry point, collaborating with hospital departments to provide professional care for elderly patients both during hospitalization and after discharge. “We captured this segment of elderly patients in hospitals, but realized it represented only a small fraction,” said Zhang Jun. “We further analyzed the population and discovered a substantial number of disabled and functionally impaired elderly individuals in the broader community. As a vulnerable group, they also require professional rehabilitation and nursing services.”

In 2013, Fushoukang established two non-profit organizations: Shanghai Fushoukang Home-based Elderly Care, Rehabilitation and Nursing Service Center, and Shanghai Furui Kang Rehabilitation Service Center, dedicated to providing professional care services for elderly individuals with special needs. That same year, as Shanghai was preparing to pilot a home-based medical nursing program for the very elderly, the Medical Insurance Supervision Division of Shanghai conducted field research at Fushoukang and affirmed its professional capabilities and qualifications.

In the second year after the survey (2014), Fushoukang undertook more than 100 government procurement projects and public welfare venture capital initiatives, serving 100,000 person-times. As the number of people served increased, so did the accumulation of experience. In 2015, Fushoukang established its first medical nursing station. Positioned as a medical-nursing integrated facility, the station provides home-based nursing services for individuals aged 60 and above, including daily living care, personal assistance, home nursing, bed bathing, rehabilitation guidance, and traditional Chinese medicine healthcare.

During the provision of in-home care services, Zhang Jun identified a segment of elderly individuals within the community who required either temporary residential arrangements or short-term intensive nursing care. Capitalizing on the national momentum in 2016 to vigorously develop community-based elder care, Fushoukang established Day Care Centers and Elderly Care Homes. The Day Care Centers are positioned as health and nursing-oriented facilities, addressing the dietary, recreational, and personal care needs of advanced-age seniors and those with mild physical or cognitive impairments, while also providing rehabilitation guidance for functional and cognitive recovery. The Elderly Care Homes are positioned as wellness and care-oriented facilities, offering dietary services, recreational activities, and 24-hour custodial care for seniors who temporarily lack family caregivers, are awaiting bed turnover, or require short-term rehabilitation due to illness.

A nurse measures an elderly person’s blood pressure (Image source: Provided by the company)

As the number of Fushoukang service sites increased, along with the expansion of service formats and content, Zhang Jun recognized that the development of multiple sites required interconnectivity, for which the internet offered an ideal solution. In 2016, as China vigorously promoted the “Internet Plus” initiative, Fushoukang independently recruited and established a system R&D team dedicated to building an interactive platform for community-based elderly care services.

With this, Fushoukang 2.0 model was launched, exploring "Internet + integrated medical and elderly care".

Zhang Jun introduced that Fushoukang’s initial foray into the digital realm actually occurred in 2015, when its first nursing station was established. At that time, Fushoukang began exploring internet-integrated management practices, including cloud-based storage of client information, software-driven attendance and scheduling, and the deployment of advanced service equipment.

After years of accumulation in the elderly care sector, Zhang Jun recognized that beyond recording information and serving internal enterprise needs, internet technology must facilitate effective connectivity. Following two years of research and development, Fushoukang developed a Community Elderly Care Service Interaction System. This system seamlessly integrates with smart hardware and leverages internet technology to enable efficient interaction and information sharing among the elderly, their children, social service providers, and community care centers.

It is understood that the Fushoukang Community Elderly Care Service Interaction System utilizes a variety of smart caregiving devices to effectively improve care efficiency for elderly individuals receiving home-based care, as well as for community care stations, community care centers, and elderly care homes. Based on a call center infrastructure, the system provides emergency assistance through proactive calling and intelligent alarm devices. It leverages WeChat official accounts and mobile clients to connect seniors with convenient services, day care, healthcare, and volunteers, thereby effectively integrating various social resources to serve the elderly. Additionally, it employs wireless smart physiological monitoring instruments to achieve health management for older adults.

Notably, Fushoukang has developed a smart mobile application and launched an online store, enabling customers to more conveniently access information about its range of services—including assistive devices, in-home caregiving, and post-hospitalization rehabilitation—and place orders quickly through the client app. Additionally, a WeChat mini-program has been deployed to allow customers with relevant needs to submit online registration forms for Long-Term Care Insurance and business services. The backend system integrates and analyzes customer demands, promptly notifying the matched stations and departments, where dedicated staff will call to gather further details and assist with processing the requests.

With the support of its system, Fushoukang has established interaction among medical nursing stations, day care centers, and elderly care services—that is, between hardware and software.

Taking the Beixinjing Subdistrict Comprehensive Elderly Care Service Center—“Shenning Yuan”—in Changning District as an example, the center collaborates with the Beixinjing Subdistrict Community Health Service Center to enable regular physician consultations and establish a green channel for emergency medical care. The rehabilitation room offers age-appropriate assistive rehabilitation interactive training and assessment systems, while the “Health and Wellness Station” introduces a new self-service health check-up experience.

At the center, Shenninyuan provides smart, integrated medical and elderly care. Each bed is equipped with an electronic wristband for seniors and a smart monitoring mattress, which are linked to the “Smart Management System” and the “Xinwang Smart Care System” associated with the bed unit. Through the “Smart Management System” of the smart bed unit, Shenninyuan collects various data on seniors’ sleep and activity. Meanwhile, the “Xinwang Smart Care System” enables interactive data viewing and display, facilitating remote communication between seniors and their families.

It is understood that Fushoukang is strategically positioning itself in the clinic sector, committed to creating a new “Fushoukang 3.0” operational model featuring an integrated framework of “nursing stations + community-based care facilities + clinics.”

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