Mayo Clinic-Backed HuiMei Healthcare Expands into China's Grassroots Medical Sector with Ambitious 5,000-Clinic Target

Mayo Clinic (Mayo Clinic(Mayo Clinic, hereinafter referred to as “Mayo”) has gained global renown for its high-quality medical services and its rank as the number one healthcare institution in comprehensive strength across the United States. In addition to providing clinical care, Mayo extensively invests in healthcare startups, particularly within the digital health sector. Its investment strategy focuses on medical software, data platforms, hardware, and incubators, aiming to accelerate the digital transformation of healthcare.

As China’s healthcare services and international exchanges have become more open, Mayo Clinic has extended its reach into the Chinese market. On January 21, 2015, Mayo Clinic and Hillhouse Capital Group established a joint venture—Huimei Healthcare Management Consulting (Beijing) Co., Ltd. As a diversified platform, Huimei Healthcare positions its business model around providing localized Mayo Clinic knowledge, management practices, and training systems to hospitals and medical institutions. Its services span pre-consultation, consultation, post-consultation, health management, and referral services, while also offering management consulting to healthcare institutions.

“All three of Mayo Clinic’s assets—clinical care, innovation, and training—will be fully introduced to China,” stated Dr. Paul Limburg, CEO of Global Business and Medical Director at Mayo Clinic, during the establishment of Huimei Healthcare. “This will ultimately meet the needs of healthcare institutions and patients.”

In addition to providing capital, Mayo Clinic has comprehensively introduced its brand, knowledge systems, medical technologies, management and training frameworks, and expert advisory services—applied across all levels including hospitals, clinics, physicians, nurses, patients, and administrators—to Huimei Healthcare. This collaboration aims to establish information, healthcare, and technology platforms related to health and medicine in China, representing the most critical value proposition for Huimei Healthcare’s presence in the Chinese market.

The joint venture established by Mayo Clinic and Hillhouse Capital in China is Huimei Healthcare Management Consulting (Beijing) Co., Ltd. Under the Huimei Healthcare umbrella, two subsidiaries have been established: Huimei Extreme Healthcare and Huimei Technology. Therefore, there are three companies using the Huimei brand in China: Huimei Healthcare, Huimei Extreme Healthcare, and Huimei Technology.

Huimei Healthcare is primarily responsible for domestic investment, fund management, brand management, medical training, and hospital management consulting, including the localization of Mayo Clinic’s intellectual property.

Huimei Extreme Healthcare collaborates with domestic Grade-A tertiary hospitals to jointly establish the “Direct Access Mayo International Diagnosis and Treatment Center” and “Clinical Centers,” thereby enhancing hospital disciplines, management, and service standards. Meanwhile, it provides one-stop services for patients and healthy individuals, including referrals to Mayo Clinic, eConsults (remote consultations), and executive health checkups.

Huimei Technology’s mission is to transform Mayo Clinic’s knowledge system into internet-based medical products, making them accessible to primary healthcare institutions and physicians in China.

These three companies jointly undertook the localization of six major initiatives for Huimei Medical: the Hospital Investment and Management Platform, the Community and Clinic Cloud Platform, the Chronic Disease Management Platform, the Chinese Medical Experts Platform, the Mayo Clinic Exchange and Training Platform, and the Mayo Clinic Medical Referral Services.

In Huimei’s daily operations, Mayo Clinic, as the investor and provider of knowledge systems, has maintained close ties with Huimei Medical. First, it is essential to ensure the proper use and protection of intellectual property content originating from Mayo Clinic. Second, certain aspects of Huimei Medical’s referral and training services require the participation of physicians and management personnel from Mayo Clinic.

Luo Rushu, CEO of Huimei Medical, told VCBeat: “Huimei Medical’s entire knowledge system is derived from Mayo Clinic; however, the design and R&D of specific products are carried out by our local Chinese team. Given the differences between the two countries in disease incidence rates, treatment guidelines, healthcare management, and patient data privacy regulations, Mayo Clinic’s knowledge system must be adapted to the local context.”

HuiMei Technology CEO Zhang Qi introduced us to HuiMei Technology’s current product portfolio of internet healthcare solutions, as well as its deployment in primary care medical institutions. Before joining HuiMei, Zhang Qi worked at Alibaba. Since joining HuiMei Technology, he has been primarily responsible for transforming Mayo Clinic’s intellectual property content into internet-based products.

Currently, Huimei Technology’s internet healthcare offerings comprise four products: a clinical decision engine, an intelligent triage system, the Huimei Cloud Clinic System, and a chain clinic management platform, with the clinical decision engine and the cloud clinic system being the most critical.

Clinical Decision Support System is Huimei Technology’s core product, primarily serving primary healthcare institutions and physicians. It focuses on improving the accuracy of diagnoses and guiding medication for common, frequently occurring, and chronic diseases. Huimei Technology’s Clinical Decision Support System integrates a century of diagnostic and therapeutic knowledge from Mayo Clinic (the AME Consulting Mayo Expert System), covering more than 1,600 diseases and summarizing 175 clinical pathways. It establishes standardized processes for the entire care continuum, including diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up, for various diseases. The Mayo Expert System has been widely deployed within the Mayo Clinic healthcare system for decades and is currently used by 35 hospitals across more than 70 hospital networks. During localization in China, Huimei Technology not only built upon Mayo Clinic’s knowledge framework but also referenced authoritative domestic diagnostic guidelines and established a large team of medical experts to conduct content review.

Huimei Clinical Decision Support System assists physicians in two aspects: “medical practice” and “pharmacotherapy.” During clinical diagnosis and treatment, the software provides real-time diagnostic assistance at appropriate times. Based on symptom descriptions and patient test results, it offers prompts regarding the accuracy of the physician’s diagnosis, follow-up timing, and other relevant factors. In terms of medication, the system helps physicians achieve symptom-targeted pharmacotherapy by providing decision support on dosage, drug compatibility, contraindications, and other related aspects.

Huimei Cloud Clinic System is a cloud-based Hospital Information System (HIS) launched by Huimei Technology for small and medium-sized individual and chain clinics. Given the small scale of these clinics and their inability to bear the high costs of information technology infrastructure, Huimei Technology provides them with a free cloud HIS solution. This advanced clinic management platform covers multiple aspects, including electronic medical records, medication management, operational statistics, WeChat integration, and patient management, thereby improving the quality of diagnosis and treatment and enabling managers to gain clear insights into operational performance.

Introducing Huimei Technology’s current achievements, Zhang Qi stated, “After completing product development in June 2016, Huimei Technology commenced its market promotion efforts. To date, the company has signed cooperation agreements with institutions such as the Guizhou Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission, LanKa Health, Wanjia Medical, and the Chinese Society of General Practice of the Chinese Medical Association, providing over 2,000 medical institutions with the Huimei Clinical Decision Engine, Intelligent Triage System, and Cloud HIS System for chain clinics.”

Although the product has been on the market for only six months, Huimei Technology has rapidly captured market share by leveraging the Mayo Clinic brand and collaborating with government entities and chain clinics. The Huimei Clinical Decision Engine has been deployed at scale in Guizhou Province, Hangzhou’s Binjiang District, Shanghai’s Yangpu District, and other regions. Meanwhile, its Cloud Clinic Platform covers more than 2,000 small and medium-sized clinics across China, effectively reducing operational costs and enhancing management standardization.

These primary healthcare institutions are supported by the Huimei Clinical Decision Support System, which provides comprehensive diagnostic and treatment recommendations covering key aspects such as management, examinations, medication, and patient guidance. The system offers knowledge queries for over 1,000 common diseases to reduce the risk of misdiagnosis, while also establishing standardized medical record management protocols, building a pharmaceutical management framework, and delivering professional data analytics support to meet daily operational needs.

VCBeat recently reported that Dr. Lü’s chain clinics have adopted the Huimei knowledge system. Lü Fengping stated, “The knowledge system of Huimei Cloud Clinic not only enables the creation of health management records for patients but also assists physicians in making diagnoses. The clinic focuses exclusively on 40 common, chronic, and frequently occurring conditions. After the physician inputs the patient’s symptoms into the system, it generates five to six potential treatment options for the physician to consider, who then selects the most appropriate solution based on the individual patient’s circumstances.”

Luo Rushu, CEO of Huimei Healthcare, believes that most current internet healthcare products in China are competing for the already limited medical resources. In contrast, Huimei’s products enter the Chinese market to provide incremental services aimed at improving the quality of care and service levels. The institutions most in need of such services are the primary healthcare facilities at the base of China’s medical institution pyramid.

In 2017, Huimei Technology will continue to intensify its product promotion efforts, leveraging the advantages of the Huimei knowledge system to break new ground at the primary care level and enter 3,000–5,000 clinics. The Chinese government’s increasing investment in primary healthcare institutions presents a significant opportunity for Huimei Technology. The company’s products are specifically designed to address the most pressing challenges faced by primary healthcare institutions. These internet-based healthcare solutions can help improve the lagging informatization status of primary care facilities, while also assisting primary care physicians in enhancing their clinical capabilities, reducing error rates, and improving efficiency.

The establishment of Huimei Healthcare marks Mayo Clinic’s first attempt to implement its healthcare industry model in China. Through collaboration with Hillhouse Capital, the two parties have introduced the world’s most advanced and highest-quality medical practices into the country. Backed by these two institutions, Huimei Healthcare is ensured ample funding to carry out a series of industrial developments centered around Mayo Clinic’s knowledge system. Nevertheless, Huimei remains open to partnerships. As Luo Rushu stated, “For startups in the healthcare sector to grow, going it alone is not viable. Huimei Healthcare will adopt an open mindset and collaborate with numerous relevant institutions. Beyond Huimei Healthcare itself, other investment projects or subsidiaries under Huimei may also consider bringing in new investors. This approach not only secures additional resources but also helps new companies achieve accurate market valuations.”

According to Luo Rushu, China’s healthcare institution pyramid is divided into three tiers. At the base, which comprises the largest number of entities, are primary care institutions. To address the needs of this segment, Huimei Technology provides internet-based healthcare products powered by the Huimei Knowledge System, thereby resolving their challenges and enhancing service quality at the primary care level. The middle tier consists of classified hospitals, for which Huimei Healthcare offers management training services derived from Mayo Clinic’s expertise. At the apex of the pyramid are private hospitals, in which Huimei Healthcare participates through investments and other means to transplant the Mayo Clinic model. Thus, Huimei has tailored its engagement strategies to suit healthcare institutions across all segments in China.