DXY Partners with MORE Health to Launch International Telemedicine Consultation Platform

Recently, DXY has partnered with MORE Health, a U.S.-based healthcare service provider specializing in complex and critical care, to jointly establish an authoritative platform for exchanging expertise on difficult and critical cases between China and the United States. The platform is now officially live.

This platform, established by the Ai Yi Sino-US Consultation Academy, is dedicated to fostering academic exchange on critical and complex diseases between China and the United States, sharing case studies of Sino-US remote consultations for such conditions, and disseminating the latest global advancements in medical research.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that in 2017, Chinese tourists’ expenditures on travel to the United States (including medical tourism) totaled $51 billion. Among those seeking medical treatment abroad, it is common for individual expenses to start at one million yuan. Data from a certain travel platform indicate that approximately 500,000 Chinese citizens traveled abroad for medical care in 2017.

Chinese patients choose to seek medical treatment abroad for a variety of reasons. While factors such as the scarcity of domestic medical resources and poor patient experience are self-evident, the mere availability of high-quality new drugs alone has become a significant driver for many. It is reported that 90% of original brand-name drugs worldwide originate from the United States, and these medications often take several years after their initial launch to enter the Chinese market.

However, the substantial time and financial costs associated with seeking medical treatment abroad place a significant burden on families. Meanwhile, once patients return to China, it is difficult to ensure the continuity of the treatments they received overseas. Such issues are particularly prominent in cancer care, as many new drugs already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have not yet been approved for marketing in China, creating difficulties for patients in maintaining their medication regimens after returning home.

Data from multiple institutions indicate that Chinese patients seeking medical treatment abroad are predominantly those with critical illnesses, especially cancer. This trend is driven by two factors: first, the number of cancer patients in China continues to rise, straining domestic medical resources beyond capacity; second, there remains a gap between the level of oncology care available in China and that offered overseas.

According to the National Cancer Registry Center, China currently sees approximately 3.12 million new cancer cases annually, averaging 8,550 per day, with six people diagnosed with cancer every minute across the country. Over the next decade, both the incidence and mortality rates of cancer in China are expected to continue rising. By 2020, annual cancer-related deaths in China are projected to reach around 3 million, with the total number of prevalent cases reaching 6.6 million. The rapidly increasing number of cancer patients will place significant strain on China’s healthcare resources, making it difficult for them to meet demand.

Moreover, while China’s healthcare capabilities lead internationally in certain fields, there remains a gap between China and advanced international standards in the treatment of complex diseases and in therapeutic philosophies. For instance, according to statistics from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the five-year cancer survival rate for patients in China is approximately 36%, compared with 66% for patients in the United States.

“Given the above reasons, it is imperative to establish accessible channels for high-end medical consultations, enabling Chinese patients to receive corresponding diagnostic and treatment services without bearing the exorbitant costs of seeking medical care abroad,” said James Zhang, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of MORE Health.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, USA, MORE Health is a healthcare service provider specializing in the management of critical and complex diseases. The MORE Health team is dedicated to integrating high-end medical resources from China and the United States to deliver diagnostic and treatment plans as well as medical services to users in both countries. Unlike some cross-border healthcare startups that operate on an intermediary model, MORE Health strives to build a networked data platform for premium remote medical care between China and the US. The organization has developed a proprietary, patent-protected cloud-based platform for international expert consultations, which is FDA-cleared and compliant with the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Currently, MORE Health has partnered with over 700 top-tier physicians in the United States, representing the top 1% of doctors nationwide. These specialists cover a wide range of disciplines, including oncology, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, neurology, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and rare diseases. Since entering the Chinese market in 2016, MORE Health has established official partnerships with more than ten leading Grade A tertiary hospitals in China and collaborated with physicians from over one hundred hospitals, committed to providing first-class medical services to users in both China and the United States.

“We adopt a model of joint consultations between U.S. experts and the patient’s attending physicians in China to discuss diagnosis and treatment plans, enabling critically ill patients in China to access top-tier U.S. medical resources without leaving the country, thereby facilitating local implementation of care and reducing healthcare costs,” said Dr. Robert Warren, Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of More Health (Ai Yi Chuan Di).

It is worth noting that, to date, MORE Health has provided thousands of patients in China with remote consultation services connecting them with U.S. medical experts. Among these, over 75% of cancer patients made significant adjustments to their treatment plans following the Sino-U.S. consultations, and more than 95% of patients with neurological disorders changed their diagnosis and treatment regimens. After the consultations, 95% of patients continued their treatment in China without needing to travel to the United States.

“A patient who previously underwent a US-China joint consultation stated, ‘Through the US-China joint consultation service, MORE Health not only matched me with top-tier physicians in the United States, but also enabled these U.S. specialists to collaborate with my attending physician in China to discuss my condition and develop a more appropriate treatment plan. This approach allowed me to achieve the benefits of seeking medical care abroad without leaving the country, significantly saving time and money, while ensuring continuity of my follow-up treatment in China.’”

The benefits of cross-border healthcare in integrating high-quality medical resources are evident, but its practical implementation is not easy.

For users, the process is often cumbersome and costly. For doctors, in addition to language barriers, medical standards and practices differ between the two regions. For platforms, besides integrating doctors and medical resources from both sides, they must also provide precise translation services and convenient communication tools to enhance their appeal to high-quality doctors in both regions. This has become a major constraint for many cross-border healthcare enterprises in China.

“This partnership with MORE Health will facilitate the exchange of high-quality medical resources between China and the United States, jointly benefiting patients,” said Shuai Yuhuan, Vice President of DXY. Since its establishment in 2000, DXY has been dedicated to internet-based practices in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors, striving to connect stakeholders in the healthcare field—including physicians and patients—to ensure public access to trustworthy medical services.

“Upholding the philosophy that healthcare knows no borders, MORE Health has joined forces with DXY.” Dr. Robert Warren stated that despite the escalating China-U.S. trade war, MORE Health has remained committed to advancing borderless healthcare, facilitating exchanges and visits between the Chinese and American medical communities, improving the level of critical care medicine in China, and actively providing professional medical services to patients in China and around the world, thereby benefiting more patients.

The AiYi China-US Consultation Academy, jointly launched by DXY and MORE Health, features robust sections including the China-US Expert Lecture Series, Case Consultation Tour, and International Frontier Therapies. It will provide authoritative information and a communication platform for doctors and patients who are closely following the latest treatment advances in complex and critical diseases on the international stage.