DXY Doctor Aims to Be the 'Fenda' of Healthcare: Hits Over 10,000 Daily Consultations Within Six Months of Launching Paid Online Consultation
Chu Yang, Vice President of DXY and Head of DXY Doctor
According to VCBeat, the DXY Doctor app is also set to launch online consultation services.
On April 15, Chu Yang told VCBeat that the mobile healthcare service app Dingxiang Doctor had released its brand-new version 6.0. In this update, Dingxiang Doctor integrated all functional modules of its WeChat-based paid medical consultation product, “Ask Dingxiang Doctor.”
Chuyang, Vice President of DXY and Head of DXY Doctor. He formerly served as an attending physician in the Department of Orthopedics at a Grade 3A hospital. His daily routine involved a rotating cycle of outpatient clinics, inpatient care, surgeries, and night shifts. Throughout his more than ten-year medical career, he has interacted with a diverse array of patients and their families on a daily basis.
At this point, the DXY Doctor app, a comprehensive medical service platform integrating health education, online consultations, medication lookup, and healthcare provider recommendations, has completed its iteration.
“After the launch of the new version of the DXY Doctor app, we are able to provide users with full-stack medical services, hoping to redefine the online consultation industry,” said Chu Yang in an interview with VCBeat.
So, what are the highlights of DXY’s online consultation service this time, given that the DXY App is backed by more than 1.4 million physicians on DXY?
For health concerns, consult DXY Doctor. This is a simple and easy-to-understand slogan, yet it has always been the life creed that DXY has adhered to. Its founder, Li Tiantian, once described his entrepreneurial journey as follows: “Over the 17 years since I started my business, time has flown by. DXY has evolved from a personal website with basic features and a rudimentary interface into China’s largest professional platform for physicians, becoming an internet healthcare enterprise with multiple business lines that are deeply integrated into the medical field. It may look impressive, but I am not satisfied.”
Yes. The entrepreneurial journey has no finish line; since we are on the path, we must keep moving forward.
However, for a long period, while online consultation platforms such as Chunyu Doctor and Haodf were bustling and vigorously developing “lightweight consultation” services, the “Ask a Doctor” feature did not appear on DXY Doctor, despite it being a viable monetization pathway.
For a mobile internet healthcare company, this is somewhat unusual. Prior to 2014, DXY Doctor merely leveraged the robust professional medical science communication capabilities of its parent company, DXY, to provide users with a steady stream of educational content, thereby establishing itself as the largest online platform for health and medical science communication in China. It maintained a stance of detached observation toward online consultation services, whether “light” or “heavy” consultations.
It was not until July 2016 that DXY Doctor began to test the waters by launching a paid medical Q&A product on WeChat. “At that time, we did not directly introduce online consultation features in the DXY Doctor App, largely due to our cautious consideration of the online consultation industry,” said Chu Yang.
Coincidentally, this attempt greatly boosted DXY Doctor’s confidence. Data show that this online consultation product, built on the WeChat platform, successfully onboarded more than 10,000 attending physicians from Grade A tertiary hospitals within six months of launch, despite the absence of large-scale promotion. Currently, the number of paid consultation queries approaches 10,000 per day, with an average price of RMB 16 per query. In the first quarter, the platform’s monthly transaction volume ranged from a low of RMB 4.3 million to a high of RMB 5.5 million.
Meanwhile, as the platform operator, DXY does not take a commission from physicians’ earnings for answering user inquiries. DXY also commits to responding to user questions within 24 hours; however, data show that 95% of physicians on the platform currently respond within 10 minutes.
“This has also revealed the immense market potential within the online medical consultation industry, prompting us to consider migrating the entire consultation functionality to the DXY Doctor app early this year,” said Chu Yang. He attributed the rise of this product to the convergence of two factors: growing user acceptance of paid internet services and increasing health awareness among the Chinese population.
After firsthand experience, reporters found that the revamped DXY Doctor app comprehensively meets users’ needs for health education, symptom checking, medical consultations, medication lookup, and healthcare access.
Currently, with the in-depth development of internet healthcare, online consultation, as the most core service, has attracted numerous players, leading to a highly competitive landscape. So why has Dingxiang Doctor chosen to make a high-profile entry into the online consultation sector at this juncture, despite industry insiders criticizing it for reasons such as an unclear business model?
“After operating an online consultation product on the WeChat platform for over six months, we found that online medical consultations are a fundamental user need and an objective reality. Some people argue that online consultations are unreliable, but I believe it is the existing products that are flawed,” said Chu Yang. He noted that entering the market late does not mean there are no opportunities; on the contrary, he firmly believes that only by “planning carefully before acting” can one break through the intense competition.
So, what sets DXY Doctor apart from other online consultation apps? Or, given that online consultations have yet to establish a viable business model, how does DXY Doctor intend to approach this challenge?
Chu Yang also shared his views with the reporter:
① No free services.“Free is the most expensive.” Chu Yang stated that payment barriers filter out invalid questions and noise, leaving only the genuine concerns of patients, thereby allowing doctors’ value to be fully realized. For users, paying encourages them to approach each question with greater care, providing more detailed descriptions rather than vague statements like “I have a headache” or “I don’t feel well,” thus eliminating a significant portion of ineffective consultations. For doctors, compensation ensures greater dedication and fair reward for their efforts, which is only reasonable. This approach enhances appeal for both patients and physicians. Currently, the minimum fee for consultation services is 10 yuan, with no upper limit.
② Registration is not open.Chu Yang frankly admitted that the platform currently has only around 10,000 doctors. However, it imposes stringent criteria for physician onboarding: candidates must be attending physicians or above at Tier-3 Grade-A hospitals. “Medicine is a profession with exceptionally high standards. We prioritize quality over quantity and currently adopt an invitation-only model for physician recruitment.”
③ Pursue excellence.Chu Yang summarized that other online consultation platforms primarily market themselves on “free,” “low-cost,” “abundant doctor resources,” and “rapid response.” In contrast, DXY Doctor aims to deliver service excellence. For instance, every inquiry not only receives a “second opinion” but is also subject to review by DXY Doctor’s dedicated manual audit team, which conducts daily random checks and promptly addresses any issues identified. Although this approach may seem unconventional, it has achieved exceptionally high user satisfaction. “We have adopted an evaluation mechanism similar to Taobao’s, allowing users to rate doctors. Currently, over 95% of doctors on the platform maintain a five-star rating.”
④ Mild social functioning.On Dingxiang Doctor, after users pay for a physician’s response, they can choose to make the Q&A public. Other users must pay a fee of 1 yuan to view the answer. This 1-yuan fee is split equally, with 0.5 yuan going to the physician and 0.5 yuan to the patient. “Thus, well-formulated questions generate earnings for both physicians and patients. This mechanism also encourages users to ask thoughtful questions and physicians to provide careful responses.”
Chu Yang, who has 11 years of experience as an orthopedic surgeon, is full of confidence in the prospects of DXY Doctor. He stated that DXY Doctor aspires to redefine online medical consultations. Many people believe that internet healthcare lacks a viable business model; however, I would argue that their products may be inadequate or fail to meet users’ genuine needs. Globally, there has never been a case where a product truly loved and willingly paid for by users failed to succeed.
Dingxiang Doctor is affiliated with DXY, which has been deeply rooted in the healthcare industry for 17 years, and represents DXY’s significant strategic expansion into the consumer market in recent years. Over the past decade-plus of development, DXY has remained committed to serving hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and medical and research institutions, gradually evolving into an internet healthcare enterprise with multiple business lines.
A review of DXY’s development in recent years reveals that it has been gradually increasing its investments in the consumer market since 2014:
In that year,
Dingxiang Yuan established the Dingxiang Doctor team, launching its consumer-facing (C-end) strategy;
Established a number of WeChat Official Accounts, including DXY Doctor and DXY Mom, to disseminate popular science health content;
In September of the same year, it secured $70 million in Series C funding from Tencent, marking the largest investment in China’s internet healthcare sector at that time;
In 2015, DXY established two DXY Clinics each in Hangzhou and Fuzhou, based on the U.S. general practice medical system;
In July 2016, the WeChat-based medical payment Q&A product “Ask a Doctor” was launched;
In March 2017, DXY Doctor integrated the “Ask a Doctor” feature;
……
Previously, Li Tiantian mentioned in multiple media interviews that DXY’s consumer-facing strategy would revolve around the “ICE model,” namely Information, Communication, and Engagement. These three elements form an inverted triangular relationship, are inseparable, and constitute a coordinated strategic approach.
In the “ICE model,” information refers to the broadest dissemination of popular health science. Currently, WeChat official accounts such as Dingxiang Doctor and Dingxiang Mom have formed a self-media matrix with 20 million followers, producing over 26 million words of popular science content annually and achieving 1 billion annual reads, thereby greatly meeting users’ needs for health education.
Communication refers to human-computer interaction and doctor-patient communication. The new version of the DXY Doctor app features functions such as intelligent queries, comprehensive search, medical care recommendations, and doctor-patient consultations, which will effectively address communication issues within the “ICE model.”
Finally, there is interaction. Interaction represents the highest level of information exchange, namely direct face-to-face engagement between physicians and patients, encompassing both online and offline modalities. Evaluating DXY (Dingxiang Yuan) against the three criteria of “ICE” reveals that a comprehensive product service system and ecosystem landscape have taken initial shape and have already entered a fast-growth phase. For an internet healthcare company with a 17-year development history, this outcome is hardly surprising.
In an interview, Chu Yang told reporters that DXY would roll out a series of consumer-facing initiatives this year. On March 19, it signed an agreement with the Yinchuan Municipal Government to establish its first internet hospital and big data center in Yinchuan. If all goes smoothly, these facilities are expected to become operational in the second or third quarter of this year. At that time, remote consultations provided through the internet hospital, hosted on the Dingxiang Doctor app, will become a reality.
When discussing future development, Chu Yang appeared quite optimistic. He stated that while DXY Doctor might eventually spin off from DXY as an independent entity to raise separate financing, “for now, our primary focus remains on refining our products and delivering high-quality services to the doctors and users on our platform.”
“Seventeen years ago, my idea was simple: to help fellow physicians around me. Today, my idea remains just as simple: to join hands with outstanding doctors across China and, through ‘Dingxiang Doctor,’ provide patients with straightforward and trustworthy assistance, much like John B. Grant and Chen Zhiqian did,” said Li Tiantian.