Xinning Doctor Group Launches 'Xinning Doctor' Platform to Provide Professional Support for Psychiatric Patient Management
On December 30, 2016, Xinning Doctors Group, China’s first psychiatrist group practice, launched the “Xinning Doctor” mobile app. Through this platform, specialists in psychiatry and psychology can provide convenient consultation services to patients with mental and psychological disorders. Additionally, the internet-based model effectively addresses privacy concerns often raised by consultees. In light of this, VCBeat conducted an exclusive interview with Zhang Xiaoyun, CEO of Xinning Doctors Group, to gain a detailed understanding of the current state of China’s psychiatric diagnosis and treatment market, as well as how the group is addressing existing challenges in the field of psychiatry.
Recently, there has been a surge in incidents of violence and harm caused by patients with mental disorders in China, which has become a serious social issue. In May 2016, a man with a history of mental illness stabbed and injured seven people at the Shajing Bus Station in Shenzhen. In September 2016, the artist Qiao Renliang committed suicide at home due to depression. In the same month, Professor Cai Yanmin, a renowned scholar of procedural law at Sun Yat-sen University, died after falling from a building... These cases indicate that China is entering a period of high incidence of mental illness, with patients showing trends toward younger ages and higher socioeconomic status.
Currently, China has a huge number of patients with mental disorders.According to Frost & Sullivan, approximately 180 million adults in China currently suffer from some form of mental illness, meaning that one in every eight people is affected. Data from the National Health and Family Planning Commission in 2015 indicated that there were 16 million registered cases of severe mental disorders in China. The number of patients with depression and anxiety has reached 90 million. According to research by the World Health Organization, depression was projected to become the second leading cause of disease burden globally by 2020, surpassed only by coronary heart disease.
However, most patients have not received effective treatment due to various reasons.In China, approximately 91% of patients with mental disorders have never received professional treatment. Fewer than 6% of patients with anxiety, depression, substance abuse, or epilepsy have sought treatment, whereas this proportion reaches 70% in developed countries. Currently, China’s investment in the field of mental health accounts for less than 1% of its health budget; by comparison, the figure is approximately 6% in the United States and as high as 10% in Germany and France. According to a report by the Guangdong Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission and the Provincial Disabled Persons’ Federation, more than two-thirds of the over 1.2 million patients with severe mental disorders in Guangdong Province lack management services such as medical care, supervision, and rehabilitation follow-up.
The primary reason is the shortage of psychiatrists in China and their severely uneven distribution.Currently, China has over 20,000 psychiatrists, averaging only 1.49 per 100,000 people, indicating a substantial shortage. Meanwhile, the distribution of mental health resources in China is highly uneven and severely imbalanced; primary-care mental health resources are extremely scarce, with the vast majority concentrated in first-tier cities.
In addition, China’s mental health management methods and approaches are outdated and inefficient.. A community-based rehabilitation system for mental disorders has not yet been established. Most patients, constrained by factors such as stigma and lack of insight, fail to acknowledge their illness or receive standardized treatment, leading to progressive worsening of their condition.
China's mental health work faces severe challenges.
In response to the aforementioned pain points, and at the initiative of experts such as Professor Jiang Kaida and Professor Miau Guodong,Founded China’s first psychiatrist group: Xinning Doctor Group (Shenzhen) Medical Co., Ltd., and established an efficient mobile healthcare platform: Xinning Doctor.
Zhang Xiaoyun introduced that, in order to develop this product effectively, the entire team spent over six months conducting extensive and detailed research by visiting experts, patients, family members, and primary mental health administrators at numerous psychiatric specialty hospitals across China. Compared with platforms offering similar services, Xinning Doctor features three key characteristics:
Video Consultation: Video consultations help doctors gain a more comprehensive understanding of the patient’s environment and mental state, enabling a detailed assessment of their condition, thereby achieving better consultation outcomes and higher efficiency.
Smart Monitoring: Xin Ning Doctor’s positioning and vital signs monitoring technology is at the forefront in China, greatly facilitating daily supervision and management of patients with mental disorders by their families. Meanwhile, it provides big data services to relevant government departments for management and decision-making purposes. To improve medication adherence among patients, medication reminders are sent not only to the patients but also to their guardians, taking into account the condition of psychiatric patients, thereby ensuring timely medication intake.
Simple and Easy to Use: Given the unique needs of patients with mental disorders, the team prioritized simplicity and ease of use in interface design, ensuring the product is intuitive and user-friendly. During product development, Professor Miao Guodong, Chief Medical Officer of Xinning Doctor, repeatedly convened experts to rigorously evaluate product functionalities and interactive interfaces, striving for optimal simplicity and usability.
Meanwhile, the XinNing Doctor platform has signed contracts with numerous renowned psychiatry and psychology experts across China, assembling a distinguished roster of specialists, guided by the standard of “clinical competence and therapeutic excellence.” During the initial phase of product development, Professor Jiang Kaida, former Director of the Department of Psychiatry at the Shanghai Mental Health Center and a leading psychiatric expert in China, clearly stipulated that physicians on the platform must demonstrate “clinical competence and therapeutic excellence” and ensure convenient appointment scheduling for patients.
The platform also hiresInternationally Renowned Molecular NeurobiologistProf. Guoping FengAs a medical advisor, Mr. Feng Guoping has been the Poitras Tenured Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 2010. He is an expert in autism and a leading international authority on transgenic animal models in neuroscience. As one of the pioneers in optogenetics research, he spearheaded the development of various fluorescent and optogenetic mouse models for nervous system labeling, which have been widely adopted worldwide.
With the launch of the platform, customer acquisition has become a major challenge. Zhang Xiaoyun told reporters,Dr. Xin Ning will collaborate with government agencies, including the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the National Center for Chronic and Noncommunicable Disease Control and Prevention., thereby helping government departments serve community residents with mental disorders more efficiently and effectively. On another front, Xinning Doctor Group has entered into a strategic partnership with Sina to jointly promote topics related to mental health and psychological well-being, raising public awareness and disseminating knowledge about mental hygiene. In recruiting expert physicians, Xinning Doctor Group will adopt a service-project-oriented approach, primarily relying on targeted invitations to provide psychiatrists with a platform for multi-site practice and tools to enhance their professional efficiency.
RegardingProfit Model, Zhang Xiaoyun stated that Xinling Doctors will adopt a hybrid online-offline model in the future, with a focus on family physician services and premium healthcare. Currently, it is establishing premium healthcare facilities in 12 cities across China. Online consultations are billed based on two pricing models: by duration and by session.
Xin Ning, M.D., to Accelerate Exploration of New Community Rehabilitation Models, and is developing intelligent devices and smart services with the aim of assisting the government in the management, prevention, and rehabilitation of patients with mental disorders. This initiative seeks to effectively decentralize high-quality medical resources to the grassroots level, providing convenient and more private healthcare services to a broad population of individuals with mental disorders.
Xinning Doctor has secured millions in angel funding and is currently raising its Pre-A round...