Can Community Clinics Operate Like 7-Eleven? Ruolin Cloud Clinic System Proposes a New Model for Scalable, Standardized Primary Care

On August 16, the Community Healthcare Development Forum and the launch event of the “Ruolin Cloud Clinic” system, hosted by Linjia Haoyi and guided by the Health and Family Planning Branch of the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, was successfully held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Heda, Hangzhou.

The participating guests included Yu Qiang, Deputy Director of the Hangzhou Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission; Ding Naijiang, former Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Binjiang District People’s Congress; Wang Xinjun, Director of the Health and Family Planning Branch of the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone; Lou Zhuoxin, Deputy Director of the Xihu District Health and Family Planning Bureau; Luo Lin, Founder and CEO of Linjia Haoyi; Professor Zhao Deyu from the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University; Wang Yan, Deputy General Manager for China Region at Hannover Re; Yan Hongshun, Chief Executive Officer of Taiwan’s Lian’an Medical Group; Yu Ying, CEO of Amcare Clinic Center; Tian Min, Partner at Yuanjing Capital; Cai Yaotang, Director at CID Huawei International Investment; Liu Qian, Founder of Unicorn Studio; and Qu Xiaoying, Chief Operating Officer of Shanghai United Family Hospital, among others.

At the conference, Yu Qiang, Deputy Director of the Hangzhou Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission, delivered a speech, stating, “I hope that all sectors of society will jointly explore new models for private medical institutions to participate in social medical services and innovate in basic healthcare and public health services. Let us make our due efforts, play our proper role, and contribute as we should toward building a Healthy Hangzhou and a happy, harmonious Hangzhou.”

Another highlight of the conference was a roundtable discussion themed “How to Operate and Manage Community Healthcare,” featuring participants from government, the investment community, entrepreneurs, and experts.

Wang Xinjun, Director of the Health and Family Planning Branch of the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, stated that the government’s role is primarily focused on policy-related areas. As an emerging area, the Development Zone serves as a testing ground for various reform initiatives. The zone actively seeks to implement any measures planned by Zhejiang Province or even those merely proposed as pilot programs, thereby creating more opportunities for social medical institutions.

“Current public health services are primarily provided by government-run community health service centers. We hope to see more pilot programs exploring diverse models of socially operated healthcare through various forms of collaboration. While the government retains responsibility for providing medical services, the methods of delivery can leverage diversified market-based approaches. Guided by this philosophy and an open mindset, we ultimately aim to ensure that residents in this region receive better medical care,” said Wang Xinjun.

Yan Hongshun, CEO of Taiwan’s Lian An Medical Group, a typical representative of community-based chain clinics, and Yu Ying, CEO of Amcare Clinic Center, provided extensive analysis on practical corporate operations.

What policy incentives does Hangzhou offer to private healthcare providers? What is the Ruolin Cloud Clinic System recently launched by Linjia Haoyi? How should community-based healthcare develop?

With the relaxation of policies, many entrepreneurs have chosen to establish clinics in Hangzhou in recent years, or use Hangzhou as a starting point to develop clinic chains and brands, rapidly expanding across China. Examples include WeDoctor General Practice Center, Dingxiang Clinic, and Linjia Haoyi.

Among the 4,622 medical institutions currently in Hangzhou, 1,947 are private, accounting for 42.12% of the total. Of the 44,175 approved hospital beds, 14,414 are allocated to private hospitals, representing 32.62%.

Why Choose Hangzhou? At the forum, Yu Qiang, Deputy Director of the Hangzhou Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission, addressed this question.

Yu Qiang stated that this forum serves as an effective initiative to implement the spirit of the National Conference on Health and Wellness and advance the "Healthy China" strategy, while also laying a crucial foundation and providing practical experience for Hangzhou to strengthen primary healthcare and promote tiered diagnosis and treatment.

This initiative represents an effective exploration and attempt to provide differentiated and personalized health services, as well as a successful integration of government guidance with the participation and supplementation of social forces. It is a highly commendable activity.

As Hangzhou has long attached great importance to the development of private medical institutions, it issued the Implementation Opinions on Further Promoting the Development of Medical Institutions Established by Social Capital in 2014. This policy provided support in 16 areas, including taxation and pricing, designated health insurance coverage, human resources and social security, fiscal subsidies, and land use. Consequently, private medical institutions have become an integral part of Hangzhou’s healthcare market, demonstrating characteristics such as flexible operational mechanisms, diversified financing channels, distinct specialized features, and a broad range of service tiers. They have made significant contributions and served as a vital supplement in addressing the challenges of difficult, cumbersome, and expensive access to medical care in Hangzhou.

Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone is a comprehensive park integrating an industrial zone, a university town, and an export processing zone. It is also one of the three major sub-centers of Hangzhou, with a population exceeding 700,000. There are more than 50 medical institutions, and a healthcare service network has been basically established, dominated by provincial and municipal public hospitals and community health service centers, supplemented by private medical providers.

As cities develop and citizens’ demand for health services rises, community-based medical and healthcare services have become increasingly vital and urgent. Therefore, Yu Qiang strongly desires, eagerly anticipates, and warmly welcomes various medical institutions to participate in the provision of primary healthcare services through diverse forms, jointly creating a new model and landscape of public-benefit, convenient services characterized by diversified win-win outcomes, resource sharing, government-enterprise collaboration, and shared benefits for all stakeholders.

While Hangzhou’s favorable policy environment provides advantageous conditions for establishing community clinics, digitalization can help clinics achieve greater long-term success and higher operational efficiency.

According to Wu Xinsheng, Chief Technology Officer of Ruolin Cloud Clinic, extensive field visits have revealed that the information systems used in both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine clinics are largely client-server (CS) architecture-based systems developed a decade ago. These were originally Hospital Information Systems (HIS) designed by software vendors for large tertiary hospitals and were subsequently deployed in clinics with minimal or even no customization. Although the functionalities of these hospital-grade systems certainly encompass those required by small clinics, using them is akin to a child wearing adult-sized clothing—inevitably resulting in a poor fit.

This is precisely why Linjia Haoyi developed the Ruolin Cloud Clinic System, aiming to create a clinic-tailored system centered on the philosophy of “managing your clinic with care, anytime and anywhere.” Its features include patient registration, prescription writing by physicians, medication dispensing, drug compounding, billing, printing, and pharmaceutical management.

The system can also interface with medical insurance platforms, WeChat, referral systems (for both upward and downward referrals), and clinical decision support systems. It is also suitable for family doctors, serving as a tool to facilitate family doctor contract services.

For example, for the social security system interface, the Social Security Information Center provides a dynamic-link library (DLL) for security reasons. However, this DLL-based interface pattern is only applicable in Windows environments.

Current internet technologies and the products developed by all internet companies are built on Linux systems. Consequently, many healthcare startup teams have struggled immensely with this issue, finding it intractable. This contradicts the open connectivity philosophy of the internet. Fortunately, this problem has been resolved by Wu Xinsheng’s team.

“Our Ruolin Cloud Clinic System is suitable not only for our own clinics but also for other clinics. Simply click ‘Request a Trial’ on our website, fill in the relevant clinic information, and upon passing our review, you will be granted trial access,” said Luo Lin, Founder and CEO of Linjia Haoyi.

For a clinic, while information technology is essential to enhance operational efficiency, success also hinges on its team, products, operations, and brand.

Insights may be drawn from the development of Taiwan’s Lian An Medical Group, a healthcare group originating from Taiwan’s chain community sector. Currently, it operates more than 140 clinics across Taiwan and has established strategic alliances with over 200 physicians. Among these, 40 directly operated chain clinics are located in Taipei City, New Taipei City, Kaohsiung, and Taoyuan. In recent years, as primary care services in Taiwan have become increasingly saturated, direct operations have faced significant challenges.

According to Yen Hung-shun, Chief Executive Officer of Taiwan’s Lian An Medical Group, China’s active promotion of tiered diagnosis and treatment and primary healthcare has attracted numerous medical professionals from various sectors to visit the group over the past two years, including Zeng Yixin, President of Peking Union Medical College; Yu Guangyan, President of Capital Medical University; and representatives from Fudan University in Shanghai.

In fact, Taiwan launched its National Health Insurance program in 1995. Prior to this, the quality of primary care in Taiwan was uneven. It was during that period that Yan Hongshun began to engage in the primary care sector, initially reflecting on what kind of primary and community healthcare he aimed to deliver.

In his view, primary healthcare should aim to establish a community-based medical model that aligns with the needs of modern society and the public. This principle holds true universally.

These changes all stem from the standardization of clinics, encompassing aspects such as clinic storefronts, service concepts, interior design, pharmaceuticals, and the quality of medical services. In the past, seeking medical care in Taiwan was referred to as “begging for treatment”; patients would bow upon entering a clinic before requesting registration and consultation. Today, patients can confidently state, “Excuse me, I would like to have a consultation today.”

Initially, Yan Hongshun explained that when he began building Taiwan’s Lian An chain of community medical clinics, he took 7-Eleven as his model. Twenty years ago, what he saw in Taiwan were miscellaneous retail stores alongside chains and convenience stores on the streets; twenty years later, all he sees are chain supermarkets. The same trend applies to clinics. So, how can we create a primary healthcare model that meets the needs of modern society and the public?

In essence, operating a clinic is akin to running a 7-Eleven convenience store; the only difference lies in the category of consumption. While 7-Eleven sells merchandise, clinics provide medical services. Currently, there are 5,000 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan, with annual sales exceeding NT$130 billion, demonstrating significant brand equity.

In the future, Linjia Haoyi may well take 7-Eleven as its role model; if so, there could be thousands of chain clinics across Hangzhou, building significant brand influence.For instance, 7-Eleven’s City Café single product line began selling freshly brewed coffee ten years ago; a decade later, it sells 280 million cups annually in Taiwan, with revenue from this single product line alone exceeding NT$10 billion.

Drawing an analogy with healthcare, in addition to the hardware infrastructure of clinics, there are also SaaS systems and logistics systems. When these primary care resources are integrated, they likewise possess strong brand value.For example, Linjia Haoyi’s independently developed Ruolin Cloud Clinic and its configurable supply chain system.

Luo Lin added, “The logo of Linjia Haoyi is a smiling face. Just as you might suddenly crave a cup of coffee and seek out the two-tailed mermaid at Starbucks for the familiar taste of your latte, I hope that when you have healthcare needs, Linjia Haoyi will be the first name that comes to mind—because there you will find the familiar, trustworthy, and warm smile.”