Tencent and WebMD Forge Exclusive Partnership to Build a Trusted Smart Medical Information Platform

A report by Tencent’s Smart Cube indicates that the internet has become the primary source of information for users seeking medical advice and treatment. However, issues such as pseudoscience, fragmented content, and covert marketing hinder users from accessing authoritative and useful medical information. Meanwhile, physicians, who possess valuable medical expertise, are unable to fully leverage their role in disseminating knowledge due to the lack of professional medical information platforms.

On August 2, VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) received news that Tencent and WebMD, an internationally authoritative medical and health information platform, jointly held a press conference in Beijing to announce the establishment of an exclusive strategic partnership in China. It is reported that, leveraging professionally authorized medical information and health education content exclusively licensed from WebMD, Tencent’s inaugural medical information product, “Penguin Medical Encyclopedia,” will provide Chinese users with professional, easy-to-understand, user-friendly, and trustworthy medical science popularization content.

(Signing Ceremony of the Strategic Partnership between Tencent and WebMD)

Tencent also announced a partnership with WebMD, renowned specialists across various disciplines, authoritative industry associations, and foundations to jointly build an intelligent medical information platform. Additionally, it launched the “Medical Enterprise Star” initiative, which aims to select 100 multidisciplinary star physicians for science popularization through various forms such as domestic and international exchanges, training programs, and competitions, thereby encouraging the creation of high-quality medical science communication content.

Zhang Meng, Vice President of Tencent Medical, pointed out that WebMD has established an authoritative and professional medical knowledge base internationally for patients, clinicians, and other healthcare professionals. Tencent hopes to work with global partners such as WebMD to foster a scientific and trustworthy context for online health communication, making medical science popularization readily accessible to the general public.

Jeremy Schneider, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Global Strategy at WebMD, also stated, “We are delighted to see Tencent, a leading Chinese internet company with substantial resources and accumulated expertise, commit itself to the field of medical science popularization. WebMD looks forward to establishing a strategic partnership with Tencent to jointly provide more authoritative and professional medical content to the general public in China.”

The “Opinions on Promoting the Development of ‘Internet + Healthcare’” issued by the State Council in April this year emphasized “strengthening Internet-based medical education and popular science services,” encouraged the establishment of online platforms for health science popularization, provided precise health education, and improved residents’ self-health management capabilities and health literacy.

Professor Han Jisheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a renowned physiologist in China, and the founder of pain medicine in China, pointed out that, in essence, medical science popularization serves as a powerful bridge linking doctors and the public, and is an effective means to enhance public health literacy. High-quality health science communication must meet three criteria: First, it requires the participation of medical professionals to produce articles that are scientifically rigorous, engaging, and instructive. Second, it must address the needs of the public, offering directional guidance and service value. Third, it must rely on authoritative platforms to enable the public to conveniently access information with higher credibility.

“The Tencent Smart Medical Information Platform will be built on three pillars: a comprehensive medical knowledge base, human-centric technological capabilities, and deep integration with the Tencent ecosystem,” Zhang Meng introduced at the press conference. Following the exclusive content licensing agreement between Tencent and WebMD, Tencent will secure Chinese-language rights to over 60,000 medical popular science articles from WebMD.

Meanwhile, Penguin Medical Encyclopedia has established collaborations with over 800 clinical medical experts across various specialties in China and more than 40 top-tier Grade A tertiary hospitals, jointly building comprehensive, systematic, and deeply valuable medical knowledge content.

In the future, leveraging platforms such as WeChat, QQ, Penguin Media Platform, and QQ Browser, and integrating big data and AI-driven precision intelligent recommendations, the Tencent Smart Medical Information Platform will deliver diverse scenarios for accessing medical information to a vast user base through innovative digital approaches. This initiative aims to address the difficulty in obtaining trustworthy popular science content on medicine, making authoritative information more readily accessible.

Furthermore, Tencent announced the launch of the “Medical Enterprise Star” initiative. Centered on Penguin Medical Dictionary and leveraging the Tencent Smart Medical Information Platform, this initiative aims to consolidate authoritative resources to establish a national matrix for medical science popularization. Academic leaders from various fields will serve as strategic advisors, form an expert review committee, and lead major medical science popularization projects. Additionally, one hundred mid-career and young medical professionals will be selected across major disease areas to create a “star” lineup for medical science communication, while also engaging millions of frontline physicians in the collaborative development of the platform.

("Tencent Smart Medical Information Platform" Launch Ceremony)

“Science popularization is an unshirkable responsibility and obligation for physicians.” stated Dong Jiahong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Executive President of Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, and a renowned expert in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery and liver transplantation. For physicians, medical expertise forms the foundation, while fostering effective doctor-patient communication and mutual understanding is equally critical. No matter how superb one’s medical skills may be, if there is zero communication and understanding between doctors and patients, the outcome will be zero. Effective communication and understanding amplify the impact of physicians and enhance their efficiency. Furthermore, other auxiliary technical tools and robust promotional platforms can also help improve physicians’ efficiency.