Alibaba Health and Alipay Forge Strategic Partnership to Integrate Resources and Transform Offline Medical Institutions

On the morning of November 15, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned that Alibaba Health has announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Alipay, a subsidiary of Ant Financial.

“Alibaba Health will exclusively establish an independent medical and health services channel on the Alipay client, taking full responsibility for managing and operating healthcare industry partners within the channel. Meanwhile, by continuously introducing new medical institutions and health service providers, it aims to offer users more comprehensive medical and health services and products on the Alipay platform,” the announcement stated.

Regarding this strategic cooperation, the announcement described it as a “powerful alliance” between Alibaba Health, Ant Financial, and Alipay, leveraging their complementary strengths in the healthcare services sector. Access to shared resources and synergy within the Ant Financial ecosystem has provided favorable conditions for Alibaba Health’s industry development; meanwhile, Alibaba Health will also contribute its accumulated expertise and competitive advantages in the healthcare field.Enrich and Optimize Medical Service Scenarios on the Alipay Platform, providing users with high-quality health services and products throughout the entire journey to enhance user stickiness and attract more new users.

Alibaba Health and Alipay Sign Strategic Cooperation Agreement to Deeply Integrate Resources in the Healthcare Sector, a Move Foreshadowed Recently.

On October 16, Alibaba Health announced a partnership with Alipay to launch the first “full-process facial recognition medical service” enabling direct insurance settlement at the point of care at Hangzhou Yuhang First People’s Hospital. During the same period, Alibaba Health also leveraged Alipay’s Life Accounts and mini-programs to implement a series of Internet-plus-healthcare digital innovations—including mobile appointment registration, electronic payments, report inquiries, report printing, and credit-based medical services—across more than 100 hospitals and nearly 1,000 departments in Hangzhou.

The two parties will also successively launch features within Alipay, including a medical visit assistant, in-hospital navigation, online physician consultations, and prescription services for follow-up visits, and will gradually promote these patient-friendly process services across China to further alleviate the difficulty of accessing medical care.

As the flagship platform of Alibaba’s “Double H” strategy in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, Ali Health has gradually established a comprehensive healthcare ecosystem encompassing medical institutions, third-party software and hardware developers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and offline pharmacies, thereby cultivating professional operational capabilities in medical and health services.

Alipay has also been committed to leveraging its technological expertise in mobile internet, credit scoring, and biometric recognition to provide essential public services to Chinese citizens. Over the past decade, it has delivered more than 100 categories of services—including government affairs, healthcare, transportation, and utility payments—to nearly 500 million people across over 300 cities.

The announcement mentioned the next steps for cooperation between the two parties, “After the signing of the strategic partnership, our group will be on the Alipay platform”Collaborate with a wide range of offline medical institutions, leveraging the Group's expertise in the healthcare sectorTechnology, Resources, and Operational Capabilities, to help itImplementation of Informatization Transformation and Internet-based Medical Services; meanwhile, by leveraging the Alipay Healthcare Services channel, we will onboard and operate with more healthcare industry partners to achieve our goal of deepening our presence in the healthcare sector.”

In addition to leveraging Alipay as a key entry point for medical and health services, Alibaba Health has increasingly clarified its strategy to strengthen and deepen its presence in the “Internet + Pharmaceutical Healthcare” sector over the past two years by synergizing with the broader Alibaba ecosystem. During this period, Alibaba Health has gradually completed the acquisition and integration of Tmall’s pharmaceutical business.

In 2016, Ali Health signed an agency operation service agreement with Tmall for the Tmall Pharmacy; in May 2017, it announced the acquisition of Tmall’s “Blue Hat” health food business; in May 2018, Ali Health further announced the acquisition of Tmall’s medical devices and other categories.

Since 2018, Alibaba Health has intensified its collaboration with other business segments within the Alibaba ecosystem.: In April, the “Health Clinic” was launched on the DingTalk Enterprise Service Market, providing corporate users with a one-stop health solution that includes medical consultations, medication purchases, and physical examinations. In September, Alibaba Health and Alibaba Cloud jointly announced the co-development of ET Medical Brain 2.0, making every effort to deepen their engagement in the medical AI sector. Between August and October, Alibaba Health also partnered with Cainiao’s Dianwoda and Ele.me’s Hummingbird to deliver 24-hour emergency medication delivery services in four cities: Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou.

Note: VCBeat will continue to provide in-depth analysis of Alibaba Health’s major moves in the healthcare sector.