Healthjie and MedTech Forge Strategic Alliance to Empower Endocrinology Specialty Development with an Integrated 'Tri-Force' Approach

Where should the focus of specialty development be placed across the hospital as a whole?

“China is a major country for diabetes, with the diabetic population exceeding 100 million.” Based on China’s disease spectrum, Jiao Yahui, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Medical Administration and Hospital Management under the National Health and Family Planning Commission, revealed that the bureau will next focus on chronic diseases such as diabetes, using them as an entry point to promote tiered diagnosis and treatment. From a revenue perspective, Zhao Zhiqing from Shangyu People’s Hospital in Shaoxing used five fingers to represent “the endocrinology department’s profit of 500,000 yuan in 2016.” He stated that the endocrinology department has become a crucial component of Shangyu People’s Hospital’s economic income, with the secret lying in emphasizing internet applications and strategies for talent development.

Individual perspectives are valuable, but the collective strength of diverse voices is even more precious. To fulfill the vision of “hospitals achieving excellence, endocrinology departments making meaningful contributions, healthcare professionals advancing their knowledge, and patients receiving effective treatment,” a signing ceremony for the strategic partnership between CN-Healthcare (hereinafter referred to as “CN-Healthcare”) and Medtech (hereinafter referred to as “Medtech”) was held on World Diabetes Day, November 14, 2017. During the event, Zhao Hong, President of CN-Healthcare, and Chen Kai, Chairman of Medtech, signed an agreement to launch the “Endocrinology Channel” on the CN-Healthcare platform. The two parties will leverage their respective strengths to jointly promote the development of specialized endocrinology services.

A Long and Arduous Journey Ahead

Treating the Root Cause Is Paramount, and Methodology Is Key. Taking diabetes as an example, Professor Guo Xiaohui from the Department of Endocrinology at Peking University First Hospital explains that since diabetes cannot be cured, the core of its prevention and treatment—regardless of the complexity of the condition—lies in adopting healthier lifestyles. Among these, dietary modifications pose an unprecedented challenge for Chinese patients. “Nearly two-thirds of diabetic patients in China fail to maintain consistent self-management of their diet,” Professor Guo candidly states.

This, in turn, leads to an increased financial burden on patients’ families. According to estimates by the International Diabetes Federation, China’s annual medical expenditures will reach $28 billion by 2030.

The large patient population, poor disease control, and heavy economic burden are not only attributable to patients’ insufficient understanding of diabetes prevention, healthcare, and associated risks, but also to inadequate clinical skills among healthcare providers, which drag down the national average for overall diabetes treatment outcomes in China.

In contemporary China, while the national economic standard of living has risen and transportation has become more convenient, disparities across regions and limitations inherent to hospital platforms have resulted in uneven competency levels among healthcare professionals. This has led to a surge of patients flocking to top-tier tertiary hospitals in major cities, where high-quality medical resources are concentrated. How can we “elevate lower standards and optimize higher ones” to balance diagnostic and treatment skills among healthcare providers across different regions? The solution lies in implementing standardized, homogeneous training programs to promote continuous professional development for medical staff.

However, just as oranges grown south of the Yangtze River become trifoliate oranges when transplanted north, the platform not only determines the starting point for an individual’s career development but also serves as a cradle for professional growth. How can endocrinology departments build robust platforms to empower healthcare professionals to excel in their roles?

“Specialty Development” Has Become the Consensus Choice for Healthcare Institutions.

Source: HJJB

It is worth noting that, unlike the enhancement of clinical diagnostic and therapeutic skills, departmental development requires theoretical knowledge and practical experience in improving service capabilities, building specialty brands, and establishing international influence. However, an overview of the current state of endocrinology department development reveals that patient education, clinical diagnostic and therapeutic skills, and specialty construction stand as three major obstacles, hindering hospital endocrinology departments from achieving greater heights and strength.

However, looking at the national landscape, since the launch of healthcare reforms, the development of endocrinology departments has begun to show promising results in certain pilot regions. As shared progress yields greater benefits than isolated success, how can these experiences be categorized, consolidated, and comprehensively shared?

1+1>2

“By co-establishing the ‘Endocrinology Channel’ with Health World, Mindray not only realizes its vision of supporting specialty development but also precisely promotes endocrinology information and solutions that are ‘easy to learn, easy to use, and easy to share’ to healthcare providers and patients who are willing and able to engage,” said Chen Kai, setting the tone for this collaboration.

He believes that, from establishing China’s most prestigious hospital presidents’ forum to promoting hospital and specialty rankings, Health Circle has gradually evolved into an influential entrepreneurial team in the field of health communication within China, accumulating substantial industry resources and extensive experience in communication and strategic planning. However, its involvement in disease education and industrial translation within the context of specialty development remains limited.

Zhao Hong expressed her agreement. In her view, Maide has been deeply committed to disease education and industrial translation, and its two major advantages complement those of the health sector.

On one hand, as the only publicly listed company in China’s endocrinology and metabolism sector, Mede ensures a rational organizational structure. Its full-time management team members possess both domestic and international medical backgrounds along with hospital management experience. Additionally, Mede has established industry-academia-research collaboration consortia with multiple medical institutions, including Peking Union Medical College.

On the other hand, Maide has extensive experience in disease education. Since launching customized medical information services in the field of endocrine and metabolic diseases in 2011, Maide has spent nearly seven years exploring this sector and has initially entered the “industrialization of solutions” stage for its endocrine and metabolic disease module. In particular, for single-disease areas such as diabetes and thyroid disorders, it has achieved a breakthrough in industrialized revenue reaching tens of millions of yuan.

“However, after my assessment, I identified the limitations of Maide.” Chen Kai believes that although Maide relies solely on its medical and technical expertise to operate and serves a large patient base, it often achieves half the result with twice the effort when venturing into more complex areas such as specialty department development and health science popularization.

He candidly stated that to drive industrial upgrading in specialized health sectors and better serve healthcare providers and patients, it is essential to foster collaboration among academia, industry, research institutions, government, capital, and media. The emergence of Health界 (Health Jie) in his purview felt like a destined, perfect match.

Zhao Hong deeply resonated with this perspective. “Healthcare Circle has always been committed to its mission of ‘delivering better medical services.’ Since hospitals provide care through specialized departments, the development of these specialties should naturally serve as the mainstay of medical service delivery.” To achieve this goal, she implemented the following strategic initiatives: fostering a company-wide mindset that prioritizes and aligns with this objective, and executing a “Dual Excellence” management plan—namely, optimizing operational coordination and strengthening brand building.

“Health Circle’s partnership with Maide has added ‘strong right-hand support’ to the development of endocrinology specialties.” Zhao Hong remarked with a smile that their strategic collaboration is akin to a marriage, which will surely spark unique innovations in the construction of endocrinology disciplines.

Trinity: Three Birds with One Stone

“If the Health World team is likened to the ‘Air Force,’ then the Med team and enterprises across the industrial chain are more akin to the ‘Army,’ while the patients and healthcare providers served resemble the ‘Navy.’” In Chen Kai’s view, the tri-service joint operations of “land, sea, and air” in modern warfare often yield twice the results with half the effort—a strategy that bears a striking resemblance to the collaboration between Med and Health World.

Thus, with the support of the “three forces,” the Endocrinology Channel on the Health界 platform can simultaneously achieve three objectives.

In terms of patient education, the Endocrinology Channel of Health界 (Healthjie) covers not only disease introductions, health assessments, wellness and healthcare, traditional Chinese medicine encyclopedias, and self-diagnosis tools, but also distinguishes itself through its commitment to “responsibility.” It strives to be accountable to the public by providing thorough and transparent explanations of diseases. On one hand, it meets the public’s health information needs, ensuring that users can access the necessary health knowledge on this channel. On the other hand, it serves as a bridge between the general public and hospitals, fostering mutual understanding and familiarity. Furthermore, it acts as a supplement to current social medical institutions, addressing gaps in hospital services and making healthcare more comprehensive, personalized, and detailed. Thus, the establishment of the Endocrinology Channel of Healthjie is akin to unblocking the “Ren and Du meridians,” facilitating the widespread dissemination of endocrinology knowledge.

In the section dedicated to medical and nursing education, the Endocrinology Channel does more than simply present relevant case studies and open-access courses; it also highlights healthcare professionals’ areas of expertise and distinctive treatment approaches, thereby helping them build their personal brands. The channel strives not only for the “practicality” of educational content but also for the “effective application” of its educational objectives. Accordingly, on the Endocrinology Channel of HealthJie (Health Circle), healthcare professionals can selectively study the topics most critical to their needs and gain comprehensive, multi-dimensional insights into peers’ perspectives on key knowledge points. This enables them to better position themselves professionally. Furthermore, the channel serves as a “talent agent” for personal brand development, addressing healthcare professionals’ limited capacity to showcase their strengths and supporting their career aspiration to become renowned “leading physicians.”

In the development of medical specialties, Health World’s initiative to unlock a “treasure trove” of experience for the Endocrinology Channel will undoubtedly provide impetus for specialty advancement along the trajectories of “bottom-up,” “from subspecialty to comprehensive care,” and “from domestic to international.” It offers strategic guidance to department leaders in areas such as talent development, scientific research and innovation, performance evaluation, and departmental operations, addressing urgent needs while leveraging strengths and mitigating weaknesses—specifically by learning from unfamiliar management practices and improving upon existing measures. Furthermore, it provides benchmark specialties with a platform to showcase their achievements across China, facilitating their expansion onto the global stage and enabling them to attain further success at a higher level.

“With 2018, 2020, and 2030 set as the milestones for short-, medium-, and long-term goals, we anticipate that our strategic partnership will bring about three transformations to China’s health industry,” introduced Chen Kai. Centered on these three timelines, the two parties will first collaborate to establish an industry summit focused on the prevention and control of endocrine and metabolic diseases; second, they will promote the development and upgrading of specialized endocrinology and metabolism departments; and finally, they will advance the enhancement of public science education regarding endocrine and metabolic diseases.

“If one word were to summarize the hallmark of the Endocrinology Channel, it would be ‘leadership’—grounded in comprehensive foresight.” With these words, Zhao Hong took up her pen to chart a new course for the future of the Endocrinology Channel.