Chenrui Tech Files IPO Prospectus: Veteran Founder Invests Hundreds of Millions in R&D to Pioneer 'Build-First, Pay-Later' Tiered Diagnosis Model, Serving Over 300 Medical Institutions
Xu Jilong, Founder of Guangzhou Chenrui Technology (Source: Provided by the company)
Every year, Xu Jilong, founder of Guangzhou Chenrui Software Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Chenrui Tech”), always makes time to travel to various places and reunite with his former comrades-in-arms. They enjoy barbecues and beer, chatting and laughing heartily. At such moments, he feels as if time has transported him back to his days in the military...
Once, he served as a security guard in the embassy district, a sales representative for medical informatics products, and an executive at a leading enterprise in the medical informatics sector; today, he is the founder of an internet healthcare startup that provides solutions for tiered diagnosis and treatment within medical consortia, as well as telemedicine services.
From an ordinary soldier to a business elite, and from a tech novice to the CEO of a healthcare IT company, Xu Jilong achieved his remarkable transformation through humble learning, relentless effort, and an unwavering commitment to hard work.
Yet, deep down, he still maintains the diligent, hardworking, conscientious, and rigorous style of a soldier, and remains deeply attached to his military sentiments.
No Step in Life Is Wasted: Every Experience Builds Toward SuccessXu Jilong has been an entrepreneur for five years, but he has been immersed in the healthcare IT industry for over two decades. This venture marks his third career chapter.
His first job in the healthcare industry was at Dayin Junhui. From 2003 to 2012, Xu Jilong joined Tianjian Group, marking the beginning of the second phase of his career. Rising from an ordinary sales representative to Vice President of the Group and General Manager of the South China Branch, “the secret to promotion is diligence and working relentlessly,” said Xu Jilong.
From Xu Jilong’s perspective, his entry into the healthcare industry seemed both a matter of chance and a predestined arrangement. After being discharged from the military, he believed that sales best aligned with his career development path, which naturally led him to join the healthcare informatics sector in a sales role. Although he initially lacked any industry knowledge, his military service had instilled in him the habits of endurance, diligence, and eagerness to learn. To quickly familiarize himself with the products, he persistently sought training from technical staff every day. Within just six months, he gained a profound understanding of both the industry and its technologies.
When asked why he chose to start his own business, Xu Jilong said, “I wouldn’t have worried about food or clothing even if I hadn’t started a business. I just feel that I’m still young and should be able to make some contributions in the healthcare industry.”
A robust professional network and a team of like-minded partners were another key driver behind Xu Jilong’s entrepreneurial venture. With over two decades of experience navigating the medical informatics industry, Xu has amassed extensive connections and resources while building a circle of like-minded friends. Five years ago, sensing that the timing was ripe for entrepreneurship, he embarked on the arduous journey of starting his own business.
Over the past five years, Chenrui Technology has assembled a team comprising healthcare industry experts, medical informatics specialists, MDs, and experts in artificial intelligence and big data analytics. With a large pool of related technical professionals, the company boasts robust capabilities in requirements analysis, product design, technology R&D, project implementation, operations and maintenance, and operational management.
Chenrui Technology focuses on research in the fields of internet healthcare and medical AI, providing solutions such as mobile health, tiered diagnosis and treatment, telemedicine, internet hospitals, and medical artificial intelligence. It is committed to improving the work efficiency of medical staff, addressing issues such as interoperability of medical information, uneven distribution of medical resources, redundant medical procedures, and over-treatment, thereby promoting the widespread adoption of smart healthcare.
Having navigated the complexities of the healthcare informatics industry for years, Xu Jilong has developed a keen sense for industry trends. In 2015, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Advancing the Construction of a Tiered Diagnosis and Treatment System,” deploying measures to accelerate its implementation. However, Chenrui Technology had already begun tackling the core technologies for data exchange platforms enabling tiered diagnosis and treatment and medical consortia as early as 2013. Opportunity favors the prepared; when demand for informatization in tiered diagnosis and treatment and medical consortia surged, Chenrui Technology rapidly achieved technological deployment. This forward-looking technical strategy was driven by insights gained from deep engagement in the healthcare informatics market.
“Let data do the running, so patients don’t have to.” This was Xu Jilong’s original motivation for starting his business. He believes that technological support is an effective means of providing solutions for medical consortia, tiered diagnosis and treatment, and telemedicine, as well as a fundamental condition for aligning with policy directives and addressing pain points in the industry.
Based on his analysis of past experiences serving hospitals, he identifies the following pain points in the healthcare industry: uneven distribution of medical resources, weak service capacity at primary care institutions, public reluctance to seek care at the grassroots level, and the difficulties and high costs associated with accessing medical services. As healthcare reform continues to deepen, the focus of resource reallocation will shift from large hospitals to primary care institutions, with the redistribution of funding and resources becoming a key priority in this process.
The term “resource allocation” here refers to rectifying the irrational phenomenon of uneven distribution of medical resources, where patients flock to tertiary hospitals, overwhelming them while primary care facilities remain underutilized, and even addressing the weak service capacity of primary healthcare institutions.
In Xu Jilong’s view, the only viable path to addressing these issues lies in sharing medical resources. This approach not only integrates the complex systems of existing hospitals—including medical consortia, tiered diagnosis and treatment, and telemedicine platforms—but also channels resources from tertiary Grade A hospitals down to the grassroots level, enabling the public to conveniently access high-quality medical care.
To this end, Xu Jilong secluded himself for three years, investing nearly 100 million yuan to refine the technology.
The company currently has a team of over 100 employees, with R&D personnel accounting for as high as 80%. The core team consists of IT experts, medical doctors, and health informatics specialists, with key members hailing from IBM and boasting years of experience in healthcare informatization. After conducting thorough analyses of the team, technology, and industry, Xu Jilong proposed four core principles: “Shared Healthcare, Shared Human Resources, Shared Data, and Shared Knowledge,” aiming to become a connector within the broader health ecosystem.
Amid the formidable barriers surrounding public hospital resources, how should Xu Jilong intervene and subsequently integrate medical resources? Compared with current healthcare projects targeting consumers (C-end), what are its core competitive advantages?
When discussing the initial market expansion, Xu Jilong said, “During our first collaboration on a project, hospital administrators were hesitant to take the risk because it was a novel initiative. I directly told the director of the local Health and Family Planning Commission that we would build the system at no upfront cost; if they were dissatisfied with the results, they could dismiss us, but if satisfied, they would make the payment. Initially, we didn’t even sign a formal contract—only a letter of commitment—before proceeding with the project.” This confidence stemmed from years of technological accumulation and R&D, as well as industry forecasts based on market analysis and policy insights.
The medical collaboration platform based on tiered diagnosis and treatment, implemented by the People’s Hospital of Linzi District in Zibo City, Shandong Province, and its affiliated medical institutions, is a typical case study of Chenrui Technology. Built upon information technology infrastructure, the hospital’s medical collaboration platform enables interoperability of patients’ health records and medical histories, facilitates mutual recognition of test results, supports prescription portability, and promotes medication sharing.
With technical support from Chenrui Technology, Linzi District People’s Hospital has integrated medical resources within the Linzi area by establishing collaborative centers for various healthcare services, including medical imaging, laboratory and diagnostic testing, two-way patient referrals, remote consultations, surgical demonstrations, video conferencing, and an online academy. This initiative has maximized the utilization of medical resources, enhanced regional healthcare service capacity, facilitated the decentralization of high-quality medical resources, and effectively addressed the public’s difficulty in accessing medical care. As a result, patients no longer need to crowd into tertiary hospitals for common ailments such as fever and colds, which can now be managed at primary care facilities.
Since the platform’s launch, Linzi District People’s Hospital and its affiliated medical institutions have achieved remarkable progress in building a tiered diagnosis and treatment system. On April 6, 2017, People’s Daily published an article titled “Overburdened Large Hospitals, Underutilized Small Hospitals: Shandong Zibo’s Medical Consortium Explores Bringing Quality Physicians to Patients’ Doorsteps,” highlighting the experience of Linzi District in developing its medical consortium.
In terms of cooperation models, Chenrui Technology has also explored a series of new approaches. The first is hospital self-funding; the second involves third-party payment, such as allocating funds for informatization construction from the interest rate spreads generated through collaborations between hospitals and banks; the third involves pharmaceutical distribution enterprises, where, after hospitals outsource drug delivery to third parties, the winning pharmaceutical companies share their profits to support the hospitals’ informatization development.
Currently, Chenrui Technology has established partnerships with over 30 top-tier Grade A tertiary hospitals, including Shandong Provincial Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Shenzhen University General Hospital, and the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. The smart healthcare solutions provided by Chenrui Technology encompass not only tiered diagnosis and treatment and telemedicine, but also intelligent mobile healthcare, AI-powered clinical decision support systems, internet-based smart hospitals, medical information integration platforms, medical artificial intelligence, medical consortium system platforms, smart nursing systems, and pre-hospital emergency management systems. These solutions comprehensively enhance hospital service quality, optimize operational workflows, and improve the diagnostic and therapeutic experience.
During the implementation of pilot projects, Xu Jilong discovered that achieving tiered diagnosis and treatment requires data sharing as a prerequisite. The most significant obstacle is the lack of interoperability among hospitals, resulting in information “silos.” Hospitals utilize numerous information systems, with different institutions employing solutions from various vendors, all of which lack unified national standards. Consequently, these systems operate in isolation, leading to redundant infrastructure development, data redundancy, and high maintenance costs.
To address this issue, Xu Jilong’s approach is to first establish a data exchange platform that adapts to the information systems of various hospitals, while ensuring system scalability, security, and optimized upgrades. This enables business collaboration and system integration, supports unified operations and maintenance management, and leverages technology to facilitate the operation of four models of medical consortia.
Today, Chenrui Technology is capable of providing efficient, convenient, and comprehensive solutions to hospitals at all levels. All data exchange platforms are independently developed by Chenrui Technology, rather than being purchased from third-party vendors or based on open-source solutions. “In response to the mutually independent systems across different hospitals, Chenrui has developed core technologies for rapid integration and adaptation to various business systems, achieving visualized and user-friendly interface configuration. By mastering these core technologies, we have established a significant technical barrier,” said Xu Jilong with pride.
Through Chenrui Technology’s medical information integration platform, tiered diagnosis and treatment system, and telemedicine system, hospitals have truly realized the vision of “letting data do the running so patients need to run less.” The telemedicine system establishes a remote healthcare application platform based on comprehensive patient diagnostic and treatment data, enabling shared medical record data and intelligent referrals. By implementing intelligent triage and referral according to disease severity, the system maximizes the utilization of hospital resources. A cloud-based assistant is provided for physicians, featuring OCR recognition, speech recognition, and file sharing capabilities to facilitate cross-platform workflows and improve physician efficiency.
“The active pursuit of informatization by major hospitals is also driven by the openness and progress of the entire healthcare industry. At the national level, policies are continuously working to reduce the dominance of Grade A tertiary hospitals, positioning them as premier medical centers dedicated to addressing complex and refractory diseases,” Xu Jilong also admitted.
During his engagements with hospitals, he also observed a shift: hospital leaders’ mindsets are beginning to change, moving from a closed-door mentality of “if we don’t change, we won’t make mistakes” to gradually accepting and proactively seeking understanding. “In the past, when I presented proposals to hospital directors, they would mostly say they were too busy; now, they respond with, ‘Sure, please walk me through your proposal.’”
He attributes this shift to the dissemination of healthcare reform policies and the collective efforts of market participants, noting that hospital leaders have largely come to recognize healthcare reform as an inevitable direction. Meanwhile, many hospital presidents also realize that while tiered diagnosis and treatment may temporarily put tertiary hospitals at a disadvantage by decentralizing medical resources and empowering primary care, it is ultimately beneficial for the entire healthcare industry. Specifically, it helps alleviate the financial burden on medical insurance, balances resource allocation, and promotes the healthy development of the healthcare sector.
Xu Jilong presented a case study using the People’s Hospital of Ganyu District, Lianyungang City. The medical consortium platform of the People’s Hospital of Ganyu District was built by Chenrui Technology. Its organizational structure is led by the People’s Hospital of Ganyu District as the core institution, with township health centers as member units, forming a medical consortium that achieves 100% inclusion of public primary healthcare institutions. The medical consortium operates under a council-led system with the chairman assuming overall responsibility, ensuring separation among decision-making, execution, and supervision. The legal entity status of each member unit remains unchanged, allowing for relatively independent operations.
Data from the hospital between May 1, 2018, and June 4, 2018, show that the system facilitated upward referrals of 539 outpatient visits and 150 inpatient admissions, downward referrals of 406 patients (including both outpatients and inpatients), interpretation of imaging reports for lower-tier hospitals 5,645 times, laboratory tests 3,838 times, and supply of 8,084 sterilized instruments, 1,907 dressings, and 5,522 plastic-sealed items.
As of now, Chenrui Software Technology has served more than 300 medical institutions, nearly 20% of which are Grade A tertiary hospitals.
Regarding future development directions, Xu Jilong is not only providing B-side services but also engaging in C-side business, adopting a B2B2C business model. In other words, after integrating extensive hospital data resources, the Chenrui Cloud Platform has also accumulated a vast amount of C-end user data, enabling precise matching between doctor resources and patient needs. This allows patients to consistently consult with the doctors most familiar with their medical conditions, thereby addressing the deeper needs of patients.
What Are Patients’ True Healthcare Needs? Xu Jilong Identifies Three Key Points: First, finding the right physician before consultation; second, achieving effective treatment during consultation; and third, minimizing or preventing illness after consultation.
Xu Jilong has a clear perspective on this: none of these three stages can function without physicians and medical institutions. If internet healthcare fails to engage physicians and medical institutions, it will struggle to grow and achieve profitability. “I hope that in the future, after integrating with a sufficient number of hospital platforms, we will make these data platforms public, open up data channels, and enable data sharing across all hospitals,” said Xu Jilong.