Shenzhen WeDoctor Internet Hospital Launches with Bao'an District, Tencent, and WeDoctor Forging a New 'Healthy Bao’an' Model

On January 8, the Shenzhen WeDoctor Internet Hospital, supported by the Shenzhen Municipal Government, announced its launch. Meanwhile, the People's Government of Bao'an District, Shenzhen, partnered with Tencent and WeDoctor to sign a strategic cooperation agreement on “Internet + Healthcare” at the Bao'an District Government, fostering multi-party collaboration to jointly advance the development of “Healthy Bao’an.”

“The establishment of the Shenzhen Internet Hospital in Bao’an District will accelerate the integration of Shenzhen with top-tier domestic and international medical resources, thereby facilitating the rapid advancement of Shenzhen’s ‘Three Famous Projects’ in healthcare and the ‘Healthy Shenzhen’ initiative.” Wu Yihuan, Deputy Mayor of Shenzhen, expressed high expectations for the prospects of the Shenzhen Internet Hospital while meeting with conference representatives.

At the concurrent Academician Summit Forum on High-Tech Medical Development Trends (Shenzhen Stop), guests including Zhang Zhibiao, Director of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Bao’an District People’s Congress; Sun Meihua, Deputy Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission; Zhou Xueliang, Deputy District Mayor of Bao’an District Government; Wen Wei, Vice Chairman of the Bao’an District Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; top medical academicians from the Chinese Academy of Engineering such as Guo Yinglu, Liao Wanqing, and Xia Zhaofan; Chen Xinshi, Editor-in-Chief of the Editorial Department of the Chinese Medical Journal; Liao Jieyuan, Chairman of WeDoctor; and Ding Ke, Vice President of Tencent, attended the launch ceremony of Shenzhen WeDoctor Internet Hospital.

As one of the first pilot cities for healthcare reform under the State Council, Shenzhen, with a permanent resident population of 12 million, has fewer than one-fifth the average number of tertiary hospitals found in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, resulting in an extreme scarcity of high-quality medical resources. The Shenzhen Municipal Government proposed the “Three Famous Projects” for healthcare and hygiene, encouraging the aggregation of premium medical resources from across China in Shenzhen through the development of internet hospitals, and designated Bao’an District as the pilot zone for implementing the “Healthy Shenzhen” initiative.

To align with the healthcare reform initiatives in Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Municipal Government has partnered with WeDoctor to establish the Shenzhen WeDoctor Internet Hospital. Additionally, the Top Ten Specialists Consultation Center of the Wuzhen Internet Hospital, led by China’s top academicians, has been contracted and established within the Shenzhen Internet Hospital. Liao Jieyuan, Chairman and CEO of WeDoctor, stated that the Shenzhen WeDoctor Internet Hospital serves not only as a physical medical institution but also as an open platform for internet healthcare technology and resources, acting as a true “accelerator” to boost the advancement of Shenzhen’s medical sector.

With the support of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, Shenzhen Internet Hospital and WeDoctor have connected with a network of 260,000 experts, 7,200 expert teams, and specialized remote consultation centers led by academicians. By integrating with the Shenzhen Regional Medical Information System, this initiative introduces high-quality domestic and international medical resources to Shenzhen. As a result, Shenzhen residents can access convenient internet-based medical services from home, including precise appointment scheduling, remote consultations, online triage, electronic prescriptions, medication delivery, and health management.

“Shenzhen Internet Hospital has truly achieved online-offline synergy and realized data interconnectivity with the Shenzhen Health Information Platform, serving as an ‘upgraded version’ of Wuzhen Internet Hospital.” Luo Lexuan, Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission, gave full affirmation to the service model of Shenzhen Internet Hospital.

In addition to the launch of the internet hospital, the Bao’an District Government of Shenzhen has joined forces with Tencent and WeDoctor to sign a strategic cooperation agreement on “Internet + Healthcare.” As a precursor to the establishment of the Shenzhen WeDoctor Internet Hospital, the “Smart Medical Grid” initiative was pioneered in Bao’an District, Shenzhen. The three parties will collaborate to establish multiple multidisciplinary expert consultation centers, a South China All-Tech Center Skills Training Center, and a Family Doctor Contracted Service Center. Leveraging the big data advantages of both the WeDoctor and Tencent platforms, they will provide customized, personalized health protection plans for the 6 million residents of Bao’an District.

After six years of accumulation, WeDoctor has established a three-tier medical resource supply system and launched the WeDoctor Health Plan at the end of 2016. Targeting individuals, families, and enterprises, the plan provides three types of services: health accounts, HMO (Health Maintenance Organization), and ACO (Accountable Care Organization). Currently, the number of users with activated health accounts exceeds one million, while WeDoctor’s HMO contracted users surpass 4.6 million, covering 1.2 million families. At the event, as the first batch of institutional clients to sign agreements with WeDoctor and Shenzhen WeDoctor Internet Hospital, representatives from Tencent, China Merchants Bank, PICC Health Shenzhen Branch, and Jinlu Air Ambulance, among other local enterprises, jointly witnessed the launch of Shenzhen WeDoctor Internet Hospital.

Meanwhile, Tencent will leverage hybrid cloud and big data technologies to unlock the value of Bao’an’s medical big data. By integrating health and medical big data, it will support areas such as medical research and analysis, management decision-making, diagnosis and treatment quality assessment, patient services, disease prevention, assisted diagnosis, and epidemiological prevention and control research, thereby achieving scientifically grounded public health management. Furthermore, by promoting the standardization of medical information through electronic medical records, Tencent will help the government enhance the management capabilities of medical institutions and improve the service levels of primary community health centers.

Huang Min, Secretary of the Bao’an District Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shenzhen, stated that by establishing a medical and health big data base in Bao’an through Shenzhen Internet Hospital and implementing the “medical grid” system on top of the existing administrative “grid” framework, the district is poised to develop an efficient implementation model for tiered diagnosis and treatment and the construction of a health gatekeeper system, thereby setting a national benchmark for healthcare reform.

Shenzhen WeDoctor Internet Hospital is another internet hospital launched in a first-tier city, following the Guangzhou Internet Hospital. By helping hospitals and doctors establish “online platforms,” it integrates internet resources into Shenzhen’s “Three Famous Projects” for medical and health services, rapidly facilitating the aggregation of high-quality medical resources in Shenzhen and providing continuous, proactive health gatekeeper services to over 12 million residents.