Wanjia Cloud Clinic: Empowering Grassroots Healthcare as Ping An Group's Strategic Enabler

In the primary healthcare sector, Wanjia Medical has demonstrated rapid growth. Since its establishment in July 2016, it has contracted with tens of thousands of clinics through the operation of its Wanjia Cloud Clinic platform, among which nearly 20,000 clinics have activated their user accounts.

Currently, the clinics partnering with this platform are concentrated in first- and second-tier cities, with specialties primarily focused on dentistry, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), general practice, and obstetrics and pediatrics. The platform is now expanding its selection from regional hub cities to secondary cities, achieving a certain degree of geographic alignment with the customer distribution of Ping An Group.

While national policies are vigorously promoting primary healthcare, leading to a proliferation of newly established clinics, development remains sluggish due to challenges such as management difficulties and a shortage of talent. Wanjia Cloud Clinic, by leveraging medical informatization, has facilitated the rapid growth of grassroots clinics and quickly gained favor among clinic entrepreneurs.

What insights and reference value can their operational approach offer to other entrepreneurs in grassroots healthcare informatization? To address these questions, VCBeat interviewed He Liquan, Chief Technology Officer of Ping An Wanjia.

He Liquan believes that to address the survival and development challenges of clinics, the primary step is to resolve their informatization issues, enabling data to do more of the work while reducing the administrative burden on physicians, thereby achieving efficient management.

After conducting extensive research, he discovered that there are significant differences in product design between clinic information systems and hospital information systems. If the product design is inadequate, it will be difficult to reap benefits, regardless of the clinic's size.

Therefore, prior to product development, he conducted thorough market research targeting clinic entrepreneurs, individuals, and government entities, and even engaged multiple large consulting firms to perform strategic analyses.

He believes that the Wanjia Cloud Clinic System must cater to the needs of various departments and demonstrate strong professional specialization. It should serve three major types of clinics—general practice, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and dental—while supporting all roles, including physicians, nurses, and pharmacists. The system covers the full spectrum of informatized workflows, such as appointment registration, medical record and prescription management, billing and payment processing, medication management, follow-up consultations, and data reporting, thereby enhancing internal management efficiency in clinics.

More importantly, clinic informatization is only one part of the many needs of clinics. Only by integrating informatization with empowerment capabilities to build a platform can we achieve the integration of standards across tens of thousands of clinics and empower more clinics.

“Clinic informatization is not merely about digitizing clinic operations; rather, it aims to build a robust pathway for clinic development through the construction of a cloud-based information platform. Via this channel, clinics can access all the resources and services necessary for their growth,” He Liquan stated candidly.

Wanjia Cloud Clinic boasts a relatively comprehensive team. Currently, Wanjia Medical has an R&D team of over 200 members in Shenzhen and Shanghai, as well as a local technical service team of nearly 50 people across China. This team provides on-site guidance at contracted clinics year-round, gathers user requirements, and rapidly iterates and updates product features.

“We are not pursuing digitalization for its own sake; rather, we aim to leverage it to support clinic growth and serve as a partner in their expansion,” added He Liquan.

During its development, Wanjia Cloud Clinic, as a novel platform-based business, faced significant challenges in initial market education and expansion. Patients were accustomed to seeking care at large hospitals rather than choosing primary care institutions. To foster patient trust in primary care facilities and encourage them to make their initial visits there, while also convincing them that these clinics employ highly skilled physicians, He Liquan devoted considerable effort. He found this endeavor highly meaningful.

The closer one gets to clinics, the better one understands their needs—a lesson learned through practical experience. Currently, Wanjia Cloud Clinic’s services are structured on two levels: first, comprehensive business tools featuring core and distinctive functionalities; second, connectivity with external resources to meet needs in certification, training, recruitment, and finance, while providing access to resources and opportunities related to government medical insurance and commercial insurance.

In fact, clinics have diverse needs: some require marketing and promotion, others need information technology infrastructure development, and still others seek training. However, as long as a solution can address any one of these needs, clinics are generally very willing to give it a try.

“This is why our platform was able to sign contracts with tens of thousands of clinics in such a short period, with nearly 20,000 of them becoming active users. The key to clinic adoption lies in meeting their actual needs, rather than merely providing digitalization tools. Therefore, our strategy is to build a high-speed channel that enables clinics to quickly access various services. Currently, the Wanjia Platform offers dozens of services, which have been highly favored by clinics,” said He Liquan.

For clinics looking to use the platform, Wanjia Cloud Clinic has no entry barriers; all clinics can submit applications.

However, using this platform is merely the beginning of the collaboration. Wanjia Cloud Clinic will also integrate other resources needed by clinics, screening for high-quality clinics through certification, preliminary assessment, or alliances, to better serve B-side and C-side clients and enhance the brand reputation of the clinics.

Compared with other primary healthcare information platforms, Wanjia Cloud Clinic also has the following advantages:

First, the clinic boasts comprehensive information system capabilities and is integrated with Ping An Group’s technological resources. By incorporating technologies such as facial recognition and artificial intelligence (AI), it enables functions including identity verification, service traceability, and auditing.

Second, it is highly specialized, with products available in general, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and general practice versions, featuring functionalities developed specifically for different departments;

Third, it meets the external resources and services required for clinic development.

He Liquan stated, “What we provide is not merely an IT tool, but a platform that offers resources and services to support the growth and expansion of clinics.”

As the user base of Wanjia Cloud Clinic continues to grow, common functional requests from clinic users can be addressed through timely product iterations. Meanwhile, clinics require ongoing operations and development; the external resources and opportunities connected by Wanjia Cloud Clinic can meet these needs, helping clinic users enhance their operational capabilities.

Through on-site demonstrations by local business and technical staff, referrals at industry association conferences, and online marketing channels, Wanjia Cloud Clinic has gained recognition from numerous clinics, gradually enhancing its reputation within the industry. For example, inThe standardized clinic service platform established in Shenzhen has been well received by both the government and clinics, achieving significant results. By facilitating applications for designation as social insurance-covered medical institutions, the platform enables the Wanjiayun Clinic System to incorporate regulatory support functions.

According to He Liquan, the current practices of the Wanjia Cloud Clinic platform mainly include the following aspects:

First, instrumentality: actively meeting the diverse business tool needs of clinics, i.e., their informatization requirements;

Second, its enabling nature: the Wanjia Cloud Clinic System serves as a platform connecting various services, such as certification, training, centralized procurement, and financial solutions.

Third, it meets the government’s needs for “streamlining administration, delegating power, and improving services,” helping the government explore and innovate in tiered diagnosis and treatment.

The standardized clinic service platform in Shenzhen is a positive practice that integrates the above three functions.

This model differs significantly from many healthcare IT companies serving clinics in the market. While other companies generate profits by providing post-implementation brand operation support to clinics, Wanjia Cloud Clinic enables large-scale, low-cost, and sustainable business connectivity. Currently, its primary revenue streams include service income (from cloud clinic solutions, certification services, centralized procurement, etc.) and medical or insurance products (covering dentistry, traditional Chinese medicine, women’s and children’s health, etc.), with additional revenue models being explored across various regions.

As healthcare reforms advance and the industry evolves, Wanjia Cloud Clinic remains committed to its mission of serving clinics. It provides services to business-side users, offers diversified products to consumer-side clients, and explores opportunities in pharmaceuticals, insurance, and other sectors.

Wanjia Medical serves as the offline gateway for Ping An Group’s “Healthcare and Medical Sector.” As a key platform initiative, Wanjia Cloud Clinic not only fills the gap in clinic informatization but also positions Ping An Group to seize early-mover advantages in primary healthcare by empowering clinics as a service provider. This creates a robust closed loop between Ping An’s insurance/financial services and its healthcare offerings, encompassing businesses such as Ping An Pension Insurance, Ping An Health Insurance, Ping An Good Doctor, Ping An Healthcare, and Ping An Haoyi.