China's First Licensed Online Hospital '160-Yunshan Internet Hospital' Officially Launches in Shenzhen
VCBeat has learned that on April 6, the “Jiuyi160-Yunshan Medical Online Hospital,” jointly established by Jiuyi160, a leading domestic internet healthcare platform, and Shenzhen Yunshan Medical Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yunshan Medical”), was officially unveiled. Attendees included Wang Jianzhong from the Healthcare Reform Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission, Luo Ningzheng, CEO of Jiuyi160, and Li Zhen, Chairman of Yunshan Medical. As the newly established subsidiary of Jiuyi160, Shenzhen 160 Online Hospital Co., Ltd. also made its official debut, marking the establishment of China’s first online hospital to obtain a business license in Shenzhen.
“Jiuyi 160 – Yunshan Medical Online Hospital” aims to seamlessly connect patients with high-quality medical resources across China. It holds significant and far-reaching importance for promoting the transformation and upgrading of healthcare service models, highlighting the development concept of holistic health, achieving comprehensive, all-weather, multi-scenario coverage of smart healthcare, and exploring innovative models of tiered diagnosis and treatment.
Online hospitals, as a new service model, represent a significant advancement in the process of healthcare reform and serve as an important practice in implementing the national "Outline of the 'Healthy China 2030' Plan." Analysts believe that online hospitals involve the complete digitalization of the medical consultation process via the internet. However, they are not limited to online services; rather, they provide flexible and adaptable solutions based on actual circumstances. These include online triage and patient guidance, consultation and referral services, appointment scheduling, video consultations, telemedicine, electronic prescriptions, price calculation and payment processing, access to diagnostic and treatment reports, medication guidance, health counseling, post-discharge follow-up, chronic disease management, as well as offline disease diagnosis and treatment, facilities for video consultations, patient education, and pharmaceutical delivery.
Wang Jianzhong from the Office of Healthcare Reform under the Shenzhen Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission stated that “Jiuyi 160–Yunshan Medical Online Hospital” represents a significant practice in the development of “online hospitals” in Shenzhen, as well as an important innovation in exploring the “Internet + Healthcare” model. He expressed confidence that this initiative will positively influence the advancement of the Internet + Healthcare model in the city, greatly facilitate public access to high-quality medical services, and effectively promote the model of physicians practicing at multiple sites.
We hope that JiuYi160-Yunshan Medical Online Hospital, as a new internet-plus-medical model integrating online and offline services, will adhere to standardized management and scientific development in compliance with current national policies and regulatory requirements. We strive to make it a new shining hallmark of Shenzhen’s healthcare sector, providing convenient, high-quality health and medical services to a broader population.
Luo Ningzheng, CEO of 91160.com, stated that the focus of 91160.com–Yunshan Medical Online Hospital lies in the “hospital.” Its emergence has significantly improved the medical consultation process. Under the current policy framework, internet healthcare platforms offer extremely limited services to patients; core clinical activities such as diagnosis, prescription, testing, and surgery still require the support of physical hospitals. Therefore, online hospitals represent the future trend of internet healthcare, with clearly evident advantages.
First, it addresses the shortcomings of both internet healthcare companies and medical institutions. By adopting an open-platform strategy, JiuYi 160 entrusts core medical services to professional medical platforms such as Yunshan Medical, while focusing its own efforts on building an internet healthcare platform, thereby jointly advancing the digitalization of healthcare. Second, the platform features not only specialist physicians but also community-based general practitioners; their participation facilitates the development of tiered diagnosis and treatment systems and serves as a beneficial pilot for implementing multi-site practice privileges for physicians. Finally, Yunshan Medical is a well-known brand among high-end private healthcare institutions in China, providing a valuable supplement to societal medical resources.
In fact, not all medical conditions require treatment at public hospitals; many can be effectively managed by private healthcare institutions with high-quality medical resources. Therefore, we are confident that JiuYi160-Yunshan Medical Online Hospital will meet patient needs and achieve better development for online hospitals under the new circumstances.
Furthermore, he believes that by obtaining relevant qualifications and collaborating with physical hospitals, a series of medical services—including consultation, diagnosis, offline examinations, electronic prescription issuance, pharmaceutical delivery, and follow-up visits—can be digitized. This integration of online and offline services creates a closed-loop system for online hospital operations. Leveraging the platform’s extensive resources of high-quality physicians and Jiuyi 160’s proprietary pharmaceutical supply channels, patients can enjoy an efficient and convenient healthcare experience featuring online consultations, home delivery of medications, testing at nearby hospitals, and remote follow-up visits.
Dr. Li Zhen, Chairman of Yunshan Medical and a spine surgery specialist, introduced that Yunshan Medical has assembled hundreds of senior clinical experts from top-tier (Grade 3A) hospitals. By aligning closely with the direction of national healthcare reform, fully leveraging policies on multi-site practice, actively introducing renowned expert teams, and establishing famous physician studios, the company has built a high-quality healthcare service platform—the Shenzhen Yunshan Famous Physician Diagnosis and Treatment Center. As one of the projects under the Shenzhen Municipal Government’s “Three Famous Projects” for healthcare (the second comprehensive famous physician diagnosis and treatment center in Shenzhen and the only one in Futian District), it innovatively operates a model integrating “famous physician consultations, precision health checkups, health management, and private doctor services,” providing customers with high-quality, efficient, and authoritative healthcare services.
Dr. Li Zhen stated that the JiuYi160-Yunshan Medical Online Hospital will leverage Yunshan Medical’s expert resources as its technical foundation and use the Shenzhen Yunshan Renowned Physicians Diagnosis and Treatment Center as its offline healthcare service platform. Yunshan Medical experts will rigorously verify physicians’ qualifications, improve the registration system for physicians’ multi-site practice, and implement standardized management. The hospital will strictly control online and offline diagnosis and treatment processes, medical safety, and service quality to provide customers with reliable healthcare services. As the first online hospital in China to obtain a business license, jointly established by Yunshan Medical and JiuYi160, it aligns with current healthcare reform policies and market demands, holding positive significance for alleviating the current difficulties in accessing medical care.
Industry analysts believe that the joint venture between Juyi160 and Yunshan Medical to build an online hospital holds broad prospects. First, relying on offline physical medical institutions, the online hospital boasts abundant doctor resources and a solid foundation for implementation. Second, online hospitals are more conducive to achieving the sharing of big medical data, promoting the development of tiered diagnosis and treatment, and enabling precise treatment based on patients' conditions. Third, online hospitals can redistribute high-quality medical resources, facilitating convenient access to healthcare for patients and reducing medical costs. In particular, through physicians’ free practice, medical resources can be integrated to increase the supply of healthcare services, effectively addressing the long-standing difficulty in accessing medical care in resource-scarce regions. This creates substantial value for hospitals, patients, enterprises, and the government, fostering a win-win situation for all stakeholders.
According to data released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China currently records over 7 billion outpatient visits annually, with nearly 60% being follow-up consultations. More than two-thirds of these follow-up visits can be completed online, representing a significant untapped market in the field of internet healthcare. Consequently, addressing the needs of patients requiring follow-up care has become one of the primary missions of Juyi 160’s Yunshan Medical Online Hospital. This approach not only saves patients’ time, reduces the volume of hospital outpatient visits, and alleviates tensions in doctor-patient relationships, but also enhances hospital operational efficiency, effectively manages consultation rates for outpatients with chronic diseases, and thereby lowers the overall societal cost of healthcare.
Furthermore, the Juyi160-Yunshan Medical Online Hospital boasts an abundant pool of physician resources. To date, Yunshan Medical has assembled hundreds of senior clinical experts, a team that continues to expand. Meanwhile, nearly 500,000 physicians are registered on the Juyi160 platform. The Juyi160-Yunshan Medical Online Hospital will carefully select from this registered physician pool to establish an elite expert team for its online hospital, thereby enhancing the quality of healthcare services provided to clients. Patients with severe conditions or those with limited mobility can connect with renowned experts from home via this platform. By logging in at their scheduled appointment time, patients can consult with physicians through video or telephone calls, and prescriptions will be issued based on the medical assessment. After completing the online payment for consultation fees, patients may choose to have their medications delivered by purchasing them online, or they may purchase them directly at a pharmacy. If diagnostic tests are prescribed, patients can visit offline medical institutions affiliated with the Juyi160-Yunshan Medical Online Hospital, such as the Shenzhen Yunshan Famous Physicians Diagnosis and Treatment Center, for testing. In the future, the Juyi160-Yunshan Medical Online Hospital plans to expand its network of partner medical institutions to better serve patients across China.
Jiuyi 160 – Yunshan Medical Online Hospital, as an emerging model, integrates resources across healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and insurance. By fully leveraging the respective strengths of Jiuyi 160 and Yunshan Medical, it not only facilitates the digital transformation of medical services provided by physical hospitals but also drives the platform’s expansion and enhancement of online hospital service offerings. This initiative aims to build a comprehensive, full-lifecycle health and medical service platform for citizens, thereby promoting the upgrading and transformation of the healthcare industry.