Ping An Good Doctor Unveils 'One-Minute Clinic' Smart Pharmacy Kiosk and Five Initiatives to Empower 'Pharma New Retail' at China Health Industry Summit (CIPH)

On August 12, the 2018 Westlake Pharma Conference (Xipu Hui), an annual flagship event for the pharmaceutical industry, opened in Boao, Hainan. Under the theme “Crossing the ‘No Man’s Land’: Division of Labor and Connectivity in Industrial Leapfrogging,” this year’s conference emphasized that the accelerated development of interconnectivity has led to unprecedented speeds in technological iteration and adoption; the synergistic energy generated by these two forces is driving the current “leapfrogging” transformation of the health industry. As a deeply engaged media partner, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) attended the entire event and provided comprehensive coverage.

As a leading one-stop healthcare ecosystem platform in China, Ping An Good Doctor not only showcased numerous innovative technologies and products, such as the “One-Minute Clinic” smart medicine cabinets, at this year’s Xipu Conference, but also hosted a special forum themed “Building the ‘Internet + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals’ Industry Value Chain.” During the event, Wang Kun, Vice President of Ping An Good Doctor and General Manager of its Pharmaceutical Business Unit, along with Deng Yuande, Special Assistant to the President, joined numerous pharmaceutical partners to discuss how to build an “Internet + New Retail Pharmacy” model.

Wang Kun, Vice President of Ping An Healthcare and General Manager of the Pharmaceutical Business Division, delivered a keynote speech titled “Internet+ New Retail in Pharmaceuticals” at the conference.

At the Westlake Conference, an “Unmanned Clinic” smaller than one square meter and resembling a vending machine attracted the attention of many professional attendees. This is the “One-Minute Clinic” smart medicine cabinet launched by Ping An Good Doctor this year. The device integrates Ping An Good Doctor’s intelligent consultation functionality, with backend connectivity to a team of full-time physicians and AI-driven big data. Patients need only sit inside this compact clinic to engage in voice conversations with cloud-based doctors. By combining symptom descriptions with diagnostic equipment, patients can receive preliminary diagnoses, significantly reducing the time required for diagnosing and treating common diseases.

Upon completion of the diagnosis, patients can, if necessary, directly pay for and purchase medications from the adjacent smart pharmacy cabinet, thereby truly realizing a one-stop healthcare process encompassing “AI-based preliminary diagnosis, online consultation, and payment for medication.”

Furthermore, Ping An Good Doctor is providing a vast user base with 24/7 auxiliary diagnosis, rehabilitation guidance, medication advice, electronic prescription issuance, and drug delivery services through its innovative “AI + Online Consultation + Family Doctor” medical system, thereby enhancing the accessibility of health management services via numerous cutting-edge technologies.

Wang Kun, Vice President of Ping An Good Doctor, stated, “Patients may not wish to visit hospitals daily, enduring three-hour queues for merely three-minute consultations. Instead, they desire access to family doctors or online solutions—this is where Ping An Good Doctor truly shines.”

In recent years, the pharmaceutical retail market has continued to grow, yet challenges persist, including limited domestic channels for purchasing medications and low online penetration. Data shows that online pharmaceutical consumption in China currently accounts for only 0.35%, far below the 30% share in the United States. Compared with other industries, the integration of online and offline operations in the pharmaceutical sector remains at an early stage of development. Over the next decade, as China’s economic growth model transitions toward a “consumption-driven economy,” driven by the rise of the new middle class, consumption upgrading, and the comprehensive implementation of the Healthy China strategy, national health demands are poised for a significant surge, making the development of new medical retail models increasingly urgent.

Currently, Ping An Good Doctor has established an integrated online-to-offline service loop featuring “one-minute consultation and one-hour medication delivery,” and has entered into strategic partnerships with well-known national pharmacy chains such as Yifeng Pharmacy, Nepstar, Laobaixing Pharmacy, and Guoda Drugstore, with over 10,000 partner pharmacies.

In the future, Ping An Good Doctor will achieve deeper breakthroughs in empowering new retail in the pharmaceutical sector. By implementing five key initiatives—"1-Hour Lightning Drug Delivery," "Transformation of Ten Thousand Pharmacies into Clinic-Style Outlets," "1-Minute Clinics," "Internet Healthcare + Insurance + Pharmacy," and "Chronic Disease Management"—it will collaborate with numerous pharmaceutical companies to jointly create a closed-loop "Internet + Pharmaceuticals" new retail ecosystem.

It is reported that the “Clinic-Style Transformation of Ten Thousand Pharmacies” initiative represents an “upgraded” version of pharmaceutical empowerment launched by Ping An Good Doctor this year. At the conference, the clinic-style transformation of pharmacies was frequently mentioned by multiple experts, who regarded it as a future development trend. Currently, there are more than 400,000 pharmacies in China; however, chain pharmacies are relatively few, with many being independent outlets that do not meet the national requirement for qualified licensed pharmacists. Leveraging its internet hospital, robust medical team, and online healthcare traffic portals, Ping An Good Doctor is empowering pharmacies with services and access to a vast user base, jointly creating a closed-loop ecosystem.

Deng Yuande, Special Assistant to the President of Ping An Good Doctor, believes that pharmacies themselves constitute an excellent user scenario, and that scenario-based marketing is a key factor in pharmaceutical brand building. Ping An Good Doctor is working with its pharmaceutical partners to jointly build user scenarios for “Super Hospitals” and “Super Health Management Centers.”

Deng Yuande, Special Assistant to the President of Ping An Good Doctor, Delivers Keynote Speech Titled “Scenario-Based Marketing: A New Choice for Pharmaceutical Brands”

Ping An Good Doctor is China’s leading one-stop healthcare ecosystem platform, committed to providing every family with a family doctor, every individual with an electronic health record, and every person with a personalized health management plan through its “Mobile Healthcare + AI” model. Currently, Ping An Good Doctor has established key business segments including family doctor services, the health e-commerce marketplace, health management and engagement, and consumer healthcare.

Ping An Good Doctor has currently hired a full-time medical team of over 1,000 professionals as its core service tier, providing users with auxiliary diagnosis, rehabilitation guidance, and medication advice through 24/7 online text and video consultations. It has also contracted tens of thousands of external physicians as an extended service network to handle subsequent triage and referrals, as well as offline initial consultations and follow-up visits.

Ping An Good Doctor covers approximately 3,100 hospitals (including over 1,000 Grade A tertiary hospitals), more than 2,000 health institutions such as physical examination centers, dental clinics, and medical aesthetics providers, as well as over 10,000 pharmacies.

In April 2015, the “Ping An Good Doctor” app was officially launched. By the end of February 2018, Ping An Good Doctor had surpassed 200 million registered users, making it the most widely used mobile healthcare application in China. On May 4, 2018, Ping An Good Doctor was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code 01833.HK, earning the title of the world’s first publicly traded internet healthcare company.