Yiyong Health Secures RMB 50 Million Series A1 Funding to Advance 'Commercial Insurance Direct Payment' Platform

According to VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat), on August 8, YiYong Health, a health insurance services company, announced the completion of its RMB 50 million Series A1 financing round. The round was led by Aixiang Capital, with existing investors Yuanjing Capital and Haier Capital continuing their participation. YiYong Health had previously completed its Series A financing in early 2017, which was led by Yuanjing Capital and followed by Haier Capital. It is understood that YiYong Health’s next round of financing is also underway.

Yi Yong Health also announced the launch of a provincial-level commercial insurance settlement platform in Henan Province. Patients can be admitted to hospitals connected to the commercial insurance direct billing settlement platform without paying a deposit. Upon discharge, the medical insurance and commercial insurance adjudication systems operate synchronously, allowing patients to leave the hospital after paying only the out-of-pocket expenses not covered by medical or commercial insurance.

This innovation marks an industry first. Unlike the prevailing market practice where service providers advance funds manually and settle payments later, the Yi Yong platform front-loads commercial insurance settlements, enabling bidirectional real-time data exchange and claims adjudication. This approach effectively alleviates insurers’ operational cost burdens on the insurance side, while sparing policyholders from cumbersome claims documentation and out-of-pocket advances on the user side, thereby achieving truly seamless medical expense payment.

Founded in 2013, Yiyong Health is a company specializing in health insurance services, leveraging its industry-leading automated claims adjudication system and data analytics capabilities. Entering the market as a third-party service provider, Yiyong Health helps insurers achieve precise cost control and product innovation on one end, while connecting with high-quality hospitals on the other to deepen medical services. This service-driven approach effectively aligns the needs of users, hospitals, and insurance companies.

Currently, Yi Yong’s “Commercial Insurance Direct Payment Platform” has secured cooperation agreements with over 70% of hospitals in Henan Province. It will subsequently cover all 108 counties and 18 prefecture-level cities across the province, continuing its comprehensive rollout throughout Henan. The platform is poised to become China’s first health insurance settlement platform to achieve a provincial-level closed loop.

Zheng Yong, founder of YiYong, stated that entering the market on a provincial basis and achieving high-density coverage within specific regions is essential to building a network system with genuine commercial viability, yielding results markedly different from those of random, dispersed layouts across China.

“We aim to address the needs of insurance users by collaborating with hospitals and insurers to create a closed loop for settlement and medical services, thereby leveraging commercial health insurance to supplement basic medical insurance and alleviate poverty caused by illness,” said Zheng Yong., Yi Yong’s planned systems, including targeted referral services, post-consultation delivery of medications for chronic diseases, and long-term care services, are also under development and preparation.

The provincial-level commercial insurance settlement platform is merely the first step for Yi Yong. In the future, Yi Yong will also provide Henan’s hospitals with DRG (Diagnosis-Related Groups) and medical record quality control services to help hospitals enhance their management capabilities and the quality of electronic medical record data. Meanwhile, it will assist residents in establishing internet-based health records, integrate pharmacy data chains, and incorporate the informatization of primary healthcare institutions into the entire platform.