WeDoctor to Deepen Integration with 200 Hospitals and 10,000 Pharmacies Amid Prescription-Sharing Expansion and IPO Filing

“Internet + Healthcare” is entering a golden period of development. From April 12, when Premier Li Keqiang presided over the State Council executive meeting to determine measures for developing “Internet + Medical Health,” to April 16, when leaders from the National Health Commission introduced the relevant details of the “Opinions on Promoting the Development of ‘Internet + Medical Health’” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”) at the regular State Council policy briefing, the policy signals released by these initiatives have brought hope to the entire internet healthcare industry.

Industry insiders have remarked that the inclusion of internet hospitals in official documents for the first time signifies recognition of market innovation. Since the launch of China’s first internet hospital, Wuzhen Internet Hospital, on December 7, 2015, and the issuance of its first electronic prescription, China’s internet healthcare sector achieved a comprehensive breakthrough, leading to the emergence of internet hospitals across many regions in China. Over the course of more than 860 days and nights, the industrial ecosystem pioneered by Wuzhen Internet Hospital has taken root and flourished throughout China.

Furthermore, Premier Li Keqiang’s initiative to explore the sharing of prescription and drug information among medical institutions, along with the measures outlined in the “Opinions” to enhance the supply guarantee services for “Internet + Pharmaceuticals,” have provided corresponding policy support and encouragement for the recently high-profile issue of prescription sharing.

In alignment with policy directions, the National Prescription Sharing Alliance, China’s first prescription-sharing organization led by a national industry association, was recently announced and is scheduled to be officially established in May this year. WeDoctor serves as the technology provider and operator for the alliance.

From China’s first internet hospital to the National Prescription Sharing Alliance, WeDoctor has consistently kept pace with the development trajectory of “Internet + Healthcare,” enriching its business connotations.

Why did WeDoctor provide technical support and operations for the Prescription Sharing Alliance? How will the alliance promote prescription sharing? How will the outflow of prescriptions be implemented? What impact will operating this business have on WeDoctor’s future development? In an interview, Liao Jieyuan, Chairman of WeDoctor, answered these questions from VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat).

Liao Jieyuan, Chairman of WeDoctor (Photo provided by the company)

WeDoctor, a healthcare technology platform, serves as the technology provider and operator for the National Prescription Sharing Alliance, with WeDoctor Chairman Liao Jieyuan acting as the Alliance’s chairman. At the inaugural conference of the Prescription Sharing Alliance, Liao Jieyuan announced that the Alliance aims to connect 200 hospitals and 10,000 designated pharmacies across China within the year, processing an average of 500,000 prescriptions daily to facilitate the separation of prescribing from dispensing and control health insurance costs.

The newly launched National Prescription Sharing Alliance will foster collaborative participation among medical institutions, pharmaceutical companies, retail pharmacy chains, and internet healthcare enterprises across China. By deeply leveraging technologies such as the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence, the alliance aims to achieve data synchronization and high-level coordination among “medical care, prescriptions, medications, and insurance,” thereby promoting the healthy development of China’s prescription outflow market, which exceeds RMB 100 billion in scale.

WeDoctor was founded on its “Internet + Healthcare” business. After several years of development, it has expanded into business lines such as internet hospitals, general practice clinics, pharmacy-clinics, health e-commerce platforms, WeDoctor Cloud, and commercial insurance, thereby establishing a comprehensive business ecosystem encompassing “cloud, medical care, pharmaceuticals, and insurance.”

WeDoctor has long been strategically positioned in the prescription outflow sector. In 2016, it launched the “Pharmacy-Clinic” project, leveraging the Wuzhen Internet Hospital as its core to provide pharmacies with services such as precise appointment scheduling, remote consultations, and electronic prescriptions. To date, it has helped nearly 20,000 pharmacies across China upgrade into healthcare service and health management centers accessible right at residents’ doorsteps, serving over 46,000 patients on a daily basis.

In February this year, the “Prescription Sharing Platform,” technically supported and operated by WeDoctor, was launched at the First National Conference on the Application of Health and Medical Big Data. This is the first prescription sharing platform in China that serves the entire industry nationwide.

As the developer of the National Prescription Sharing Platform, WeDoctor has opened up its technology, resources, and operational capabilities to the platform. Within two months of its launch, the National Prescription Sharing Platform has been successively implemented in provinces and municipalities including Hainan, Heilongjiang, Shandong, Henan, and Sichuan, with daily prescription circulation volume now exceeding 70,000.

It can be said that WeDoctor’s abundant medical resources, coupled with its successful initiatives in “Internet+” pharmaceuticals and prescription-sharing services, have made it an ideal choice to operate the National Prescription Sharing Alliance.

On the launch day of the National Prescription Sharing Alliance, Liao Jieyuan, Chairman of the Alliance and Chairman of WeDoctor, announced the Alliance’s initial operational plan targeting hospitals, medical insurance providers, pharmaceutical companies, and chain pharmacies. The plan includes: comprehensively promoting the integration of hospital systems nationwide and enabling prescription circulation; exploring connections with medical insurance systems in three to five provinces; cultivating 100 blockbuster products each generating RMB 100 million in revenue; assisting 10,000 designated pharmacies in upgrading to “Community HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations)”; and integrating resources across the entire industry chain to empower healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and insurance sectors.

The prescription sharing process is as follows: physicians issue and upload prescriptions to the Prescription Sharing Platform, where they undergo rigorous review by a prescription audit team. After patients settle medication fees online, medications are delivered to their homes by nearby designated pharmacies; alternatively, patients may opt for self-pickup at these nearby designated pharmacies.

First, the Prescription Sharing Alliance will align with the reform trend of separating prescribing from dispensing. In 2018, it plans to facilitate integration with the prescription platforms of 200 large and medium-sized hospitals, with an estimated daily outflow of over 500,000 prescriptions, thereby reducing the proportion of pharmaceutical revenue in hospital income and lowering pharmacy operational costs.

Secondly, the alliance will collaborate with renowned pharmaceutical companies to select and cultivate 100 high-cost-performance blockbuster drugs (each with annual sales exceeding RMB 100 million) that are most trusted by both doctors and patients, focusing on chronic diseases and common, frequently occurring conditions. This initiative aims to provide more patients with access to high-quality, affordable medications and promote rational drug use.

Furthermore, the alliance will initially select 10,000 pharmacies across China as designated partners for its prescription-sharing platform. These selected pharmacies are characterized by comprehensive product categories, high-quality services, and robust support system capabilities. By establishing a 500-meter service coverage radius for each pharmacy, the initiative aims to transform them into “Community HMOs” conveniently located at residents’ doorsteps.

Going forward, community residents will be able to access services such as prescription dispensing from hospitals, online remote consultations and health management, routine medication purchases and health-related consumer products, and online medical insurance payments at pharmacies located right in their neighborhoods. These pharmacies will also serve as daily health “service hubs” for WeDoctor’s 110 million online users.

Liao Jieyuan stated that the National Prescription Sharing Alliance, as an open and shared cloud platform and a hub for industry collaboration and exchange, will drive the optimization and upgrading of the entire pharmaceutical industry through resource integration, supply chain optimization, health insurance system interoperability, and the application of big data technologies. This will ultimately achieve multi-party win-win outcomes across the pharmaceutical distribution value chain and foster a healthy industrial ecosystem, while supporting the separation of prescribing from dispensing and controlling healthcare costs, thereby enabling more patients to access safe, high-quality, and affordable medications.

As previously mentioned, after years of development, WeDoctor has established a comprehensive business ecosystem encompassing “Cloud, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Insurance.” Among these, “WeDoctor Cloud” serves as the core technical support platform, with “WeDoctor Healthcare,” “WeDoctor Pharmaceuticals,” and “WeDoctor Insurance” all relying on it for infrastructure. The implementation scenarios of “WeDoctor Cloud” include “Hospital Cloud” and “Consultation Room Cloud,” which have given rise to two medical AI systems: Ruiyi Intelligent Doctor and Huatuo Intelligent Doctor.

“WeDoctor” comprises a three-tier service system consisting of “bases, outlets, and terminals,” providing users with medical services that integrate “online and offline” as well as “general practice and specialized care.” The “bases” refer to more than 2,700 key hospitals and over 7,400 expert teams connected by WeDoctor across 30 provinces and municipalities in China, encompassing more than 100 regional medical service bases including internet hospitals and medical consortia. The “outlets” consist of 20,000 nationwide medical service outlets established by WeDoctor, including six offline WeDoctor General Practice Centers, community health service centers, and pharmacy-clinics. The “terminals” refer to the WeDoctor Pass hardware terminals, the WeDoctor App software terminals, and enterprise terminals.

“Wei Medicine” encompasses two core businesses: pharmacy-clinic integration and prescription sharing. It establishes large-scale connectivity among hospital information systems, retail pharmacy drug distribution and logistics systems, and medical insurance settlement systems, thereby enabling the shared application of medical information across healthcare providers, insurers, and pharmaceutical stakeholders. Against the backdrop of the Prescription Sharing Alliance, WeDoctor aims to further integrate the entire pharmaceutical value chain—including manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitals, and medical insurance—to drive upgrading and transformation within the pharmaceutical industry.

“WeDoctor Insurance” serves as the primary vehicle for WeDoctor’s advancement of an open internet-based health insurance platform, leveraging big data to promote the “revenue expansion” of commercial health insurance and the “cost containment” of social insurance. By utilizing the big data accumulated by WeDoctor, “WeDoctor Insurance” provides users with precise, intelligent recommendations across various scenarios, offering a one-stop solution for online purchase, healthcare services, and claims processing. Centered on health management, medical services, and insurance underwriting and claims handling, with insurance e-commerce as a supplementary component, it encompasses six core products: the Health Insurance Portal, Health E-Service Room, Insurance Underwriting and Claims Services, WeDoctor Medical Credit Pay, Telesales Cloud, and Health Accounts.

WeDoctor’s growth has capitalized on the “Internet + Healthcare” boom of recent years, while aligning with the needs of hospitals and patients amid the ongoing healthcare reform. Its four business pillars—cloud services, medical care, pharmaceuticals, and insurance—operate in synergy, enabling WeDoctor to rapidly emerge as a “unicorn” in the internet healthcare industry, with a valuation exceeding $5 billion.

“Prescription outflow” is likely to become the next major trend, rivaling or even surpassing “Internet + Healthcare,” and may further enhance WeDoctor’s commercial and social value.

Why Is “Outflow of Prescriptions” Considered a Strategic Opportunity? The reason lies in the fact that pharmaceuticals represent the core link for generating commercial value in the healthcare industry. Historically, hospitals have served as the primary sales channel for drugs, accounting for approximately 70% of total pharmaceutical sales. Currently, efforts to promote the separation of prescribing and dispensing and to reduce the proportion of drug revenue in hospital income are driving the shift of pharmaceutical sales away from hospitals. This transition inherently involves a redistribution of the commercial value of drugs. In other words, whoever holds sway in the process of prescription outflow will control the allocation of this commercial value.

Currently, the outflow of prescriptions is an inevitable trend, poised at the tipping point of a full-scale boom. A multitude of companies are entering this space, including established pharmaceutical distributors and retailers, as well as “Internet + Healthcare” firms. Internet giants such as Tencent, Alibaba, and JD.com are also accelerating their entry into this sector.

However, the practical implementation of prescription outflow is no easy feat, as it involves a myriad of factors such as hospital interests, pooled medical insurance funds, and off-site pharmaceutical care capabilities. Only platforms that can balance these interests while providing robust technology and high-quality operational services will stand out. With its superior medical resource advantages and strong service capabilities, WeDoctor may become one of the first companies to successfully implement this model, with its prescription outflow business potentially driving new growth for the company.