AwesomeGIH Cross-Border Healthcare: Enabling U.S. Medical Access Within 8 Days for Over 4,000 Patients

This is a true story:

Retinoblastoma is a malignant intraocular tumor that predominantly affects infants and young children. The global leaders in advancing the latest treatment techniques for this disease are Dr. David H. Abramson and his team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in the United States. Under their care, 90% of patients retain their vision, sparing children from the traumatic experience of enucleation (surgical removal of the eye). In contrast, within China, enucleation remains an unavoidable outcome for the majority of affected children.

A four-year-old girl from Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, nicknamed Xiaorui (a pseudonym), was unfortunately diagnosed with stage D retinoblastoma in her right eye. After seeking opinions from various sources and traveling to both Shanghai and Guangzhou, the family received a unanimous recommendation from several domestic experts: enucleation of the affected eye. While Xiaorui’s father was preparing the hospitalization procedures in China, her mother, Ms. Li, unwilling to accept this outcome, learned about Yuesheng Cross-Border Healthcare and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) through a friend. That evening, the family held a meeting and decided to proceed with the domestic hospitalization preparations while fully entrusting Yuesheng Cross-Border Healthcare to arrange medical treatment in the United States, with further treatment plans to be determined based on the progress.

At the request of the child’s mother, the Yuesheng team completed the hospital appointment procedures for the child within two working days.Day 4Let the child and mother board the flight to the United States in advance (both the patient and family members hold U.S. visas).

A few months later, Xiaorui completed her joint treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, returned to China with her parents, and retained her right eye, with only slight impairment of vision on the right side.

Xiao Rui’s father has since reflected with deep emotion, noting that he had nearly given up on saving the eye; it was only thanks to the child’s mother’s unwavering persistence that the current outcome was achieved.

The aforementioned stories are deeply alarming, yet there remain countless unknown cases. Many patients have missed the optimal window for treatment solely due to limitations in information access and geographic barriers. Yuesheng is addressing these challenges through cross-border medical referral services.“Serious,” Rareof critical care medical cases.

“In the 1970s, county hospitals were often the last resort for medical care; in the 1980s, that role shifted to provincial capitals; and later on, many people came to view major hospitals in Beijing and Shanghai as their final lifeline. But now,”Healthcare Should No Longer Have National Borders.” Chen Xin, co-founder of Yuesheng Cross-Border Healthcare, told VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) in an interview.

“With social development and improvements in economic conditions and healthcare standards, the incidence and mortality rates of many diseases have declined significantly, while the prevalence of serious conditions such as cancer continues to rise. The primary clientele of Yuesheng Cross-Border Medical Care now consists of cancer patients,” said Chen Xin. In 2014, there were 4 million new cancer cases, which increased to 4.29 million in 2015, indicating that this patient population has been experiencing rapid growth.

Seeking medical treatment abroad is becoming an increasingly popular choice for cancer patients. This trend is well-founded; for instance, new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) typically take three to five years, or even longer, to gain approval from the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) and become available to patients in China. Additionally, while the United States began exploring the clinical application of proton therapy as early as 1989, China did not establish its first proton therapy center until 2015 in Shanghai.China's healthcare sector is developing rapidly, yet it still lags behind the global leading standards.。

Yuesheng’s founding team recognized this opportunity early on, establishing business relations with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, a top-tier U.S. cancer institution, as early as 2013. Today, visiting Yuesheng’s website reveals a long list of renowned medical institutions. Over the course of more than three years, the teamEstablished business relationships with 56 medical institutions in the United States, with strategic partners including WeDoctor; served over 4,000 patients, with nearly 1,000 receiving overseas medical care.. How are the customer reviews? “The annual review in December 2016 showed that Yuesheng's customer satisfaction rate was 98.5%, with room for improvement.”

One morning a few days ago, VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) contacted Yuesheng and decided to schedule an interview. That very evening, Yuesheng swiftly collaborated with us to complete all preparatory tasks, including data collection and the interview itself, executing the entire process seamlessly and without any delay.

“Among all martial arts in the world, speed is the only thing that cannot be defeated.”“Speed” can be said to be Yuesheng’s greatest advantage..” Chen Xin said in an interview.

Of course, the “speed” is not only reflected in the collaboration with VCBeat. This “speed” is more prominently demonstrated by Yuesheng in its race against time to serve clients. Chen Xin stated that the current industry average for handling pre-treatment arrangements for overseas medical care is 20 working days; however, Yuesheng has committed that, barring factors attributable to the patients themselves or certain force majeure events, they can complete these arrangements withinWithin 8 working days, enabling patients to board flights to the United States for medical treatment.

Making overseas medical treatment more efficient was also the original intention behind founding Yuesheng. Before the cross-border healthcare industry took off, founder Wang Chaoyang encountered a Chinese mother and daughter at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in the United States; the daughter was already in the middle to late stages of cancer. Preparing for medical treatment abroad is a professional and complex undertaking, and lacking experience, the pair spent nearly two months on preparations and departure procedures. At that time, Wang Chaoyang thought that if there had been a professional platform to handle all the preparatory formalities before seeing a U.S. doctor, the girl would not have had to wait so long. The subsequent news that the girl had sadly passed away due to missing the optimal window for treatment further solidified Wang’s resolve to pursue this idea.

Chen Xin, CEO and Co-Founder of Yuesheng Cross-Border Healthcare

Yuesheng has not only achieved one-stop cross-border referral services but has also established a reputation for high efficiency and quality among both users and hospitals. Chen Xin told VCBeat that, to ensure patient safety, accredited U.S. medical institutions impose stringent requirements on the completeness of medical records and the accuracy of translated materials; submissions failing to meet these standards will not pass review.

“Many overseas partner hospitals have commented that our medical record translations are accurate and professional, and our non-medical services are thorough and comprehensive, becoming a major supporting service for the hospitals. With this trust, Yuesheng has been positioned as”High-Quality Referral Service Partner Institutions, partner hospitals are also more willing to cooperate actively, helping Yuesheng’s clients quickly access medical care in the United States.” Fast, high-quality services have fostered stronger collaborations with hospitals and facilitated the accumulation of more cases; this wealth of experience and resources, in turn, drives continuous improvement and greater efficiency in new services.

“The 8-Working-Day Commitment” may appear to be a simple piece of information, but for patients and their families, it is a figure that could mean the difference between life and death; for Yuesheng, it represents a significant industry barrier built over years of dedicated effort.

Typically, when discussing their objectives, companies tend to outline a blueprint for the future or provide a definitive statement. However, Chen Xin offered VCBeat a rather different answer: “Our goal is to remain committed to change. No matter how comfortable our existing model may be, our determination to evolve must never waver.”

“Every two to three months, Yuesheng undergoes adjustments, transformations, and upgrades.”

For Yuesheng, the most significant transformation has been digitizing and internet-enabling its accumulated offline experience. “In fact, since serving our first user, we have been building up our digital and internet infrastructure. The industry data we have accumulated over the past few years has gradually become our new competitive barrier.”

“We anticipated several years ago that this would constitute a barrier; as it is now being progressively realized, we are even more convinced that such upgrading and transformation are necessary.”

Building on its accumulated data, Yuesheng has begun to establish a “Cross-Border Remote Consultation Platform” to further address the pain points associated with Chinese patients’ demand for cross-border medical resources.

Overseas second medical opinions serve as an initial screening for patients, providing direct preliminary assessments from U.S. physicians. This helps patients who truly need to travel to the United States understand the value of doing so, while sparing those for whom overseas treatment is unnecessary from undue hardship.Yuesheng does not induce patients to seek medical treatment in the United States; our goal is to help every client find their optimal solution..” Chen Xin explained the rationale behind Yuesheng’s launch of remote consultations.

On the other hand, cross-border teleconsultations have also bridged Chinese patients with U.S. medical resources, enabling those unable to travel to the United States due to physical or financial constraints to obtain second opinions from across the Pacific.

And now, Yuesheng is planning a significant transformation. Yuesheng stated that details will remain confidential until the internal testing of the new model is completed, but revealed that this transformation isRelated to data and customer interests。

“Years of detailed case data have been meticulously recorded, awaiting the right moment,” said Chen Xin.

This is aMassive Information Reference Sources—Types of information include, but are not limited to, case accumulations, drug information, treatment protocols, and patient education. Driven by the internet, these information types have created significant room for innovation and growth.

“We must not rest on our past achievements or remain in our comfort zone, nor should we be content with merely serving as a facilitator for cross-border patient referrals.”

No matter how things change, the core mission of Yuesheng will always be “Balancer of Chinese and International Medical Resources“. ‘Balancing resources means not only sending patients abroad but also bringing advanced medical technologies back home.’ Guided by this mission, Yuesheng Cross-Border Healthcare spearheaded a tripartite China–U.S. exchange program on prostate cancer cases, involving Massachusetts General Hospital, affiliated with Harvard Medical School in the United States, and Shanghai General Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.”

Yuesheng Cross-Border Healthcare isCurrentlyThe Only Cross-Border Healthcare Platform with a Registered Physical Entity in the United States. The U.S. headquarters is located in Houston, while the China headquarters is in Shanghai, with offices established in multiple cities across both countries.

Chen Xin stated that seamless collaboration between the Chinese and U.S. teams is key to improving efficiency. Yuesheng’s China-U.S. team has clear professional divisions of labor and a mature coordination mechanism, covering pre-departure case assessment, document translation, physician appointment scheduling, and visa applications; post-arrival medical and daily life accompaniment, as well as relevant legal assistance; and post-return follow-up care and health management.

“We are not a healthcare service provider. Although we do not engage in medical practices, as a platform dedicated to serving patients’ lives, our team must possess its own professional expertise.”

To achieve this, Yuesheng’s China-US team members must possess a certain medical background. In addition to 50% of its domestic team having clinical medical work experience, Yuesheng has invested heavily in establishing a full-time service team with professional backgrounds in the United States. Among them, Aiden ZHANG, the Chief Medical Officer based in the U.S., has many years of work experience at both Peking Union Medical College Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center. “This combination is unique within the industry.”

Finally, when sharing his reflections on entrepreneurship, Chen Xin described the collective sentiment of the Yuesheng team as follows:

It is like holding a candle in the dark: we can only see our immediate surroundings, knowing that we must head in a certain direction to seek out the goal of “balancing Chinese and international medical resources,” yet unaware of what lies ahead, how much farther we must go, or how long the candle in our hand will continue to burn. Nevertheless, we press forward with great strides, guided by conviction and unwavering belief in the significance of this endeavor. 

All data related to the company in this article were provided and confirmed by the interviewee.