Almond Doctor Discloses RMB 180 Million Online Consultation Revenue in One Year; 'New Healthcare' Strategy Drives Growth
In the field of mobile health, Xingren Doctor has always been particularly fortunate.
Since its launch in September 2014, the Xingren Doctor platform has attracted 350,000 real-name verified physicians within just 18 months, and has successively secured a USD 5 million Series A financing round and a RMB 200 million Series B financing round.
Two years later, the Xingren Doctor platform has amassed 430,000 real-name verified physicians, covering 23,869 medical institutions across China. The scale of its physician network and affiliated medical institutions is comparable to that of the largest country in Europe.
Recently, Xingren Doctor unveiled its “New Healthcare” strategy. How will this initiative accelerate the company’s development?
So, how is this RMB 180 million composed? What is the number of doctors? How is physician activity level? Which departments generate the highest revenue? During which time periods is doctor-patient communication primarily concentrated?
Based on the operational data disclosed by Almond Doctor for the first time, VCBeat provided a detailed breakdown of the RMB 180 million in online consultation revenue from the perspectives of both doctors and users.Flow。
1. Doctor's Side
① Physician Attribute Analysis
The number of physicians and their professional titles often determine the volume of online consultation services. Therefore, from the outset, Xingren Doctor has focused deeply on cultivating its physician network.After more than three years of effort, the platform has amassed 430,000 real-name verified physicians, representing a high-caliber professional cohort. Among them, 209,719 are from tertiary hospitals.
② Hospital Tier of the Physician Cohort
The hospitals where this group of physicians practice can be further categorized into Grade A Tertiary Hospitals, Grade B Tertiary Hospitals, Secondary Hospitals, Primary Hospitals, and others.Among them, 47% are physicians from tertiary grade A hospitals,Grade III Class B hospitals account for 5%,Doctors in secondary hospitals accounted for 21%, while those in other tiers accounted for 27%.
③ Distribution of Professional Titles Among Active Physicians
Among active physicians, professional titles mainly include attending physicians, associate chief physicians, resident physicians, and intern physicians.The top three most active roles are attending physicians, resident physicians, and associate chief physicians, accounting for37%、33%、15%。
④Doctor's Location
Data shows that on the Xingren Doctor platform, doctors from first-tier cities account for 32%, those from second-tier cities account for 41%, and those from third-tier cities account for 27%.
(Note: First-tier cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin; second-tier cities: Hangzhou, Nanjing, Jinan, Chongqing, Qingdao, Dalian, Ningbo, Xiamen, etc.)
⑤Comprehensive Online Consultation Departments
From the perspective of the Xingren Doctor platform, Xingren’s physician users cover a comprehensive range of specialties, including Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Diagnostic Support Services, Pediatrics, Stomatology, Oncology, Critical Care Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Ophthalmology, Urology and Andrology, Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy, Neurosurgery, Dermatology, Pharmacy, General Practice, Infectious Diseases, Psychiatry, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and Interventional Radiology.
⑥Proportion of Paid Consultation Orders by Physician Title
Based on the overall order volume for consultation fees, associate chief physicians accounted for 32% of orders; attending physicians accounted for 37%; chief physicians accounted for 21%; resident physicians accounted for 9%; and other physician titles accounted for 1%.
⑦Breakdown of Physician Income by Department
Based on the paid consultation transaction data from the Xingren Doctor platform over the past year, physicians’ total consultation revenue exceeded RMB 180 million., the top three departments by revenue are Internal Medicine, Orthopedics, and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
2. Patient Side
① Number of orders under the patient-pay model
On the Xingren Doctor platform, there are four patient payment models: telephone consultation, personalized consultation, monthly subscription consultation, and text-and-image consultation. Among these, text-and-image consultations account for 59% of orders, personalized consultations for 21%, telephone consultations for 15%, and monthly subscription consultations for 5%.
Note:The fee range for text-and-image consultations is from CNY 19 to CNY 149 per session (physicians may set their own prices); the fee range for monthly subscription consultations is from CNY 99 to CNY 999 per month (physicians may set their own prices); the fee for personalized consultations is CNY 599 (physicians may set their own prices); and the fee range for telephone consultations is from CNY 49 to CNY 299 per session (physicians may set their own prices).
② Distribution Chart of Doctor-Patient Consultation Time Slots
As shown in the chart, patient inquiries to physicians occurred every day from Monday to Sunday, with the highest volume of questions raised on Fridays.Throughout the day, the highest frequency of doctor-patient communication occurs at 11:00. Between 6:00 and 10:00, business volume remains in a phase of rapid growth.
③ Payment Ratio by Patient Age Group
According toChart Analysis: On the Xingren Doctor platform, patient age groups include 1–20 years, 20–30 years, 30–40 years, 40–50 years, 50–60 years, and over 60 years.Among them, the payment rates for patients aged 20-30 and 30-40 were both 30%,The co-payment rate for patients aged 1 to 20 years is 25%.
④Patient Payment Gender Ratio
Data from the Xingren Doctor platform reveals variations in payment ratios between male and female users across different age groups. Using 60 years of age as a cutoff, the payment ratio among female users under 60 is significantly higher than that of their male counterparts, whereas among users aged 60 and above, the payment ratio for males exceeds that for females.
⑤Patient's City
On the Xingren Doctor platform, patient registration data indicates that they are located in cities across all tiers, including first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities and below.Among them, patients in first-tier cities accounted for only 12%, those in second-tier cities reached 51%, and those in third-tier cities and below amounted to 37%.
Although the online consultation business is booming, Martin, the founder of Almond Doctor, remains unsatisfied. “I was once a physician, and my initial entry into this industry was driven by the mission to save lives and heal the wounded. Having personally experienced the patient’s perspective, I am particularly committed to helping both doctors and patients by optimizing medical care processes and enhancing the healthcare experience. Seeing their smiles brings me a profound sense of warmth.”
Every doctor harbors a “clinic dream.” Yet the path to realizing this dream is often fraught with obstacles. To address this, Xingren Doctor has introduced a partner clinic model (WeWork), co-building clinics with physicians. According to Martin, “We handle the preparatory work in the early stages, including site leasing, renovation, and recruitment, as well as clinic management and operations in the later stages.”
“At our clinic, doctors are the bosses. The staff we hire are employed by the doctors and serve them directly. Doctors can even join with ‘zero upfront costs,’ requiring only one day of consultations per week to generate an annual net income of nearly 150,000 yuan,” Martin told VCBeat.
The partnership model involves joint capital contribution, collaborative operation, shared profits, and risk sharing between the enterprise and physician partners, significantly reducing the risks associated with physicians starting their own practices independently.
On July 7, 2016, Almond Medical opened its first clinic in Shenyang.Within 45 days, it attracted hundreds of outstanding physicians to join the platform, with over 500 patients seeking consultations, medical treatment, and surgical procedures. On average, each patient generated RMB 200–300 in outpatient revenue for Xingren Clinic.
In fact, the first clinic in Shenyang was an Almond 1.0 multi-site practice WeWork version. In early 2017, Almond’s upgraded 2.0 shared partnership outpatient clinics will also open in Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. In the future, Almond will open more outpatient clinics.
According to Martin, whether operating as an online doctor-patient communication platform or managing offline clinics, Xingren Doctor remains physician-centric, upholding the philosophy that truly helping patients begins with empowering doctors.
By scanning the QR code on the doctor’s profile in the Xingren Doctor app via WeChat, patients can establish a connection with the doctor and consult them directly through WeChat. This creates a highly convenient platform for communication between patients and their trusted physicians.
For any physician who has completed real-name verification on the Xingren Doctor platform, patients visiting the hospital where the physician practices may inquire whether the physician has installed the Xingren Doctor APP. If the physician has installed the app, patients can scan the QR code using WeChat. This allows them to manage minor ailments without needing to visit the hospital or endure the hassle of queuing for registration again. Physicians can also effectively conduct online follow-ups with established patients, manage specific diseases, monitor disease progression, perform postoperative tracking, issue online prescription renewals, and carry out case studies.
However, Xingren Doctor is not merely a platform for doctor-patient communication and follow-up; it is an integral part of the Xingren ecosystem, or rather, its first step.
The Almond ecosystem is divided into two ends: the supply side and the service side. The supply side serves doctors and medical institutions, while the service side targets the general public. By integrating upstream and downstream industrial chain resources—including pharmaceutical companies, testing centers, imaging centers, hospitals, surgical centers, and insurance providers—it delivers efficient medical services, thereby establishing a healthcare cloud system powered by comprehensive health data. This healthcare cloud system comprises several components, including the Medical Record Cloud, Diagnostic Cloud, Prescription Cloud, Laboratory Testing Cloud, Imaging Cloud, and Genomics Cloud.
Meanwhile, Almond Doctor leverages its online consultation services and internet hospital platform to collaborate with offline Almond Clinics and primary healthcare institutions, building an ecosystem for “New Healthcare.” This initiative enables doctors and medical institutions to provide the public with truly cross-regional, cross-institutional, and cross-physician medical services, particularly in areas with scarce medical resources, thereby realizing the goal of sharing high-quality medical resources across China and even globally.
It is foreseeable that after launching its “New Healthcare” strategy, Almond Medical will focus on improving the patient experience and building a more multidimensional healthcare system, thereby creating greater growth potential for platform revenue.