Why Spring Rain Doctor Chose Yinchuan to Build Its Internet Hospital: Three Strategic Reasons

Zeng Boyi graduated from the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Tsinghua University and later earned a master’s degree from RWTH Aachen University in Germany, often hailed as the “MIT of Europe.” In 2007, Zeng joined NetEase, where he served as Mobile Product Director for NetEase Youdao. He spearheaded the development of Youdao Dictionary, whose iOS version has become one of NetEase’s most successful mobile internet products.

In 2011, Zeng Boyi became the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Chunyu Doctor, successfully launching China’s first internet healthcare product that integrated online consultations with health self-diagnosis. These two features subsequently became the industry benchmark and standard. Zeng Boyi is a recognized industry leader in both the development and operation of mobile healthcare applications.

Based on the current development patterns of internet hospitals in China, Zeng Boyi believes that the internet healthcare sector can be broadly divided into two schools of thought. One is the “Hospital + Internet” model, represented by physical hospitals and hospital informatization service providers. Its primary objective is to transform traditional “intranet hospitals”—where operations are confined within the hospital premises and various departments function independently—by leveraging internet technologies. This transformation includes integrating registration and consultation systems in the pre-diagnosis phase, adding appointment scheduling and inquiry systems during the diagnosis and treatment phase, and incorporating prescription circulation, medication delivery, and online follow-up systems in the post-diagnosis phase.

Another school of internet hospitals is represented by major internet healthcare enterprises. Although these companies operate across various sectors—including appointment scheduling, consultations, testing, surgery, pharmaceuticals, follow-up care, and the broader health landscape—and each employs distinct operational models for their internet hospitals, their overall objectives have gradually converged after a period of development. The shared goal is to establish a genuine online hospital capable of addressing health issues through internet-based means. Such online hospitals must address both the "entry" point (patient acquisition) and the "exit" point (treatment). On one hand, they need to continuously attract users to choose their services; on the other, their services must be convenient, high-quality, and cost-effective in resolving users' health problems. At its core, this model is an internet service platform supported by technology and data, providing interfaces that connect various segments of the healthcare ecosystem and enabling the derivation of new services.

Chunyu Doctor has been slow to enter the internet hospital sector because Type I internet hospitals are neither within its core competencies nor aligned with its primary business. As for Type II internet hospitals, they are not substantially different in essence from Chunyu Doctor’s “Online Consultation Open Platform,” which was launched in August 2016. The only differences lie in the number of partnered entities integrated and the extent of comprehensive medical service capabilities provided.

Spring Rain Doctor’s ultimate decision to enter the internet hospital sector stems from the regional nature of healthcare; it is insufficient to merely establish an online platform to access all resources. Instead, differentiated business strategies must be developed tailored to various regions and population groups. By leveraging an internet hospital platform to complement its existing online platform and differentiating their service offerings, Spring Rain Doctor aims to accelerate the digitalization of the entire healthcare process, thereby ultimately addressing the current limitations of online medical services.

There is no uniform definition for "internet hospital," with significant variations in both its connotation and scope. The internet hospital that Spring Rain Doctor plans to establish in Yinchuan will leverage the advantageous resources of its own online consultation open platform, draw on the operational experience of its Spring Rain Cloud Hospital in Pu’an, Guizhou, and capitalize on Yinchuan’s pioneering policy advantages, thereby exploring a new model for internet hospitals.

Chunyu’s Yinchuan Internet Hospital generally adopts the following practices: First, it serves as a platform for connecting and decentralizing medical resources, leveraging its substantial capacity for online consultations. Its specific operational model draws reference from that of Pu’an Cloud Hospital, namely, a co-construction model in partnership with local medical institutions. Under this framework, it provides services such as enhancing basic diagnostic and treatment capabilities, facilitating access to high-quality medical resources, and offering remote consultations for complex and difficult cases. The fundamental objective is to establish an online platform for medical consultation and data accumulation, thereby achieving the goal of tiered diagnosis and treatment centered on family physicians and health management.

Second, by aligning with Yinchuan’s overall strategy for building a smart city and piloting initiatives in selected areas, we will gradually evolve from “online consultation” to “online treatment,” thereby making the “Internet Hospital” live up to its name. This is one of the key business areas that Spring Rain Doctor’s Internet Hospital aims to explore. It involves not only leveraging our existing extensive pool of physician resources effectively but also strategically introducing more partners, such as third-party testing and inspection agencies, medical institutions, pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, and insurance and financial institutions. The ultimate goal remains to establish a comprehensive online healthcare entry point and terminal platform.

Third, we will further enhance Chunyu Doctor’s smart healthcare capabilities. Data lies at the core of internet-based healthcare; how to obtain it in compliance with laws and regulations and use it appropriately is one of the most critical issues facing the industry. Previously, Chunyu Doctor leveraged electronic health record (EHR) data accumulated through its platform operations, along with electronic medical record (EMR) data acquired from healthcare institutions via purchases and partnerships, to train China’s first medical artificial intelligence system designed for clinical consultation. This AI has been applied in diagnosing common conditions in departments such as dermatology, providing physicians with tools for assisted follow-up questioning and diagnostic support, and offering patients robot-assisted self-diagnosis and intelligent triage services. Chunyu Doctor plans to further strengthen big data processing capabilities at its Yinchuan Internet Hospital, employing natural language processing, machine learning, and deep learning techniques to further refine its medical AI, thereby expanding its accuracy and scope of application in the future.

Currently, as Co-founder and Co-CEO of Chunyu Doctor, Zeng Boyi is leading the company’s evolution from simply connecting doctors with patients to integrating the entire healthcare process. Chunyu Doctor is becoming an entry point, connector, and distributor in internet healthcare, having achieved leading results in improving healthcare system efficiency, enhancing patient care experiences, and strengthening data-driven capabilities.

As is well known, Spring Rain Doctor’s extensive accumulation of medical resources, patient reputation, medical data, refined operational capabilities, deep understanding of healthcare itself, and proficiency in leveraging internet tools—gained through years of practice in the doctor-patient domain—give it the confidence to catch up and surpass competitors in the online hospital sector, particularly in achieving the goals of internet-based healthcare.

When asked why he chose Yinchuan, Zeng Boyi cited the following three reasons: First, as a pilot city for national smart city development, Yinchuan’s demands in the field of smart healthcare align with those of Spring Rain Doctor. Over the past two years of practice, the city has pioneered unique local policies and regulations regarding market access qualifications and administrative measures for internet-based healthcare. These frameworks not only define clear regulatory boundaries for internet healthcare enterprises but also provide policy support for their exploration.

Second, Yinchuan’s proposed initiative to build a cluster of internet hospitals is expected to create a siphon effect in the digital healthcare sector, attracting enterprises across all links of medical innovation to converge in Yinchuan. These include companies providing smart city infrastructure support (next-generation communication equipment, IoT), medical information system providers (HIS, LIS, PACS, EMR), third-party testing services (clinical laboratory tests, medical imaging), manufacturers of implantable/wearable smart devices, prescription review firms, medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmaceutical distribution companies, and life/health insurance providers, among others. The agglomeration of these various segments will enable enterprises with strong resource integration capabilities and prominent core competencies to truly establish a closed-loop ecosystem for online healthcare.

Third, as the “Pearl Beyond the Great Wall,” Yinchuan’s sphere of influence extends north to the Hetao Plain, south to the Guanzhong Plain, east to the Loess Plateau, and west to the Tengger Desert. It serves as the demographic and economic hub for the neighboring areas of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia. Establishing an internet hospital in Yinchuan will not only meet the healthcare needs of this region but also provide a foundation for expanding services to other parts of China.

Establishing the Yinchuan Internet Hospital holds the following strategic significance for Spring Rain Doctor: First, it secures an opportunity to pilot initiatives under policy approval, which is critically important for internet-based startups. Second, it provides a chance to validate whether end-to-end online medical services can be successfully implemented, as well as to assess the technical reserves and lead time required for the comprehensive deployment of online medical services segmented by department and disease severity.

Therefore, Spring Rain’s strategic plan focuses on three key areas: First, it will gradually deploy internet hospitals in regions where conditions are mature, prioritizing quality over speed by launching each facility only when fully ready, thereby establishing a platform that genuinely addresses healthcare challenges. Second, it will continue to expand its partnerships within the internet healthcare sector, ensuring that the most professional institutions provide services at every stage of the care continuum. Third, it will seek greater government support in policy-related domains, particularly concerning the rigor of medical practice (defining which conditions can and cannot be treated online, identifying current limitations that may be resolved in the future, and standardizing diagnostic and treatment protocols as well as quality control for internet hospitals), the rationality of payment mechanisms (such as cross-regional settlement of basic medical insurance, reimbursement for telemedicine services, and the widespread adoption of commercial health insurance), and the traceability of management processes.

From Zeng Boyi’s perspective, whether Chunyu Doctor is building an open platform for online consultations or entering the internet hospital sector, its corporate layout and strategic planning remain consistent: in the near term, it focuses on online businesses (consultation platforms and internet hospitals) and connects various stakeholders in the healthcare field through these online platforms; in the medium term, it aims to become a stable entry point for internet-based healthcare and a terminal solution for medical issues; and in the long term, it aspires to be a provider of high-quality medical services as well as a manager of user health behaviors and health data.