How Wuzhen Internet General Hospital Tackles Primary Care Doctor Shortage Through the 'Double-Thousand Plan'

In 2016, a physician at Madang Health Center in Ermi Town, Tonghua County, Jilin Province, received general practice consultation orders via the internet from 230 cities across China; meanwhile, more than 150 village clinics in Qingcheng County, Gansu Province, have engaged in remote collaboration with tertiary Grade A hospitals in the provincial capital through the internet, regularly receiving professional guidance from leading specialists.

As the internet empowers the development of primary healthcare, an increasing number of primary care physicians are expanding their service reach through online platforms, thereby enhancing the service capacity and quality of primary healthcare institutions.

At the inaugural National China Family Health Forum held recently, leaders from eight departments of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), along with more than 1,000 health and family planning administrators nationwide, jointly focused on the “Double Thousand Plan” of the Wuzhen Internet General Hospital, exploring how the internet can facilitate leapfrog development in primary healthcare.

The conference released the “2016 Big Data Report on Family Health and Healthcare-Seeking Behavior in China.” Big data from hundreds of millions of users’ healthcare-seeking behaviors indicate that the trend of overcrowding at large hospitals is improving, with an increasing number of people choosing primary care institutions for their initial consultations. General practice services are extending to primary care institutions through online platforms, where the average hourly online consultation volume per general practitioner exceeds that of tertiary Grade A hospitals.

Feng Wen, Director of the Population and Culture Development Center under the National Health and Family Planning Commission and Chair of the Special Committee on Family Health, stated at the conference, “The busy presence of grassroots general practitioners gives us confidence in revitalizing primary healthcare resources, paving the way for medical services that are more accessible and better aligned with family health needs in the future.”

This is precisely the original vision behind Wuzhen Internet General Hospital’s promotion of the “Double Thousand Plan”: to enhance the service capacity of primary-care hospitals and unlock the latent vitality of grassroots medical resources through “Internet+” healthcare.

At the 3rd World Internet Conference, Wuzhen Internet General Hospital launched the “Double Thousand Plan,” a national family health service platform. The plan aims to sign contracts with 1,000 counties over a period of 12–18 months, train 1,000 primary care physicians for each county, and serve 10 million families. Adopting a family doctor team-based service model, the initiative will leverage county-level public hospitals to integrate county, township, and village health centers, thereby establishing a family doctor network that covers grassroots communities.

It is understood that Wuzhen Internet General Hospital is a specialized team established by WeDoctor·Wuzhen Internet Hospital to advance the “Double Thousand Plan” and implement the National Health and Family Planning Commission’s project, the “National Family Health Service Platform.” The team currently comprises over 5,000 professional management, hospital administration, and operational staff. In addition to leveraging the online resources of Wuzhen Internet Hospital—including 7,200 expert teams, more than 260,000 physicians, and 2,400 key hospitals—it has established over 1,200 consultation centers and bases across China.

Yang Jianchun, Executive Director of Wuzhen Internet Hospital and Executive Vice President of Wuzhen Internet General Practice Hospital Management (Tongxiang) Co., Ltd., stated: “With the gradual advancement of the ‘Double Thousand Plan,’ Wuzhen Internet General Practice Hospital will leverage a pool of 260,000 expert resources, utilize the National Family Health Management Service Platform as its carrier, and designate public hospitals at Grade II Level A and above across China as regional internet-based general practice medical centers. This initiative aims to construct an integrated online-offline, proactive, and continuous one-stop family health management service system, providing comprehensive, full-lifecycle healthcare services to families nationwide.”

Amid the current shortage of primary healthcare talent, Wuzhen Internet General Hospital leverages online platforms and data center management systems to extend high-quality medical resources to county-level hospitals.

Liao Jieyuan, Chairman and CEO of WeDoctor, stated at the forum: “Through internet hospitals, we are promoting the decentralization of three key capabilities—diagnostic and treatment technologies, examination services, and medication management. Specifically, high-quality medical expertise from tertiary hospitals is extended to township health centers and village clinics via online platforms and data center management systems; technical capabilities for testing/monitoring equipment and various diagnostic procedures are made available at township health centers and village clinics; all examination reports and basic patient information are uploaded to county-level hospitals; and prescribed medications can be delivered directly to pharmacies or even patients’ homes. Meanwhile, a series of IoT-based technologies are employed to guide grassroots physicians in enhancing their medication management capabilities.”

Launched on April 6 this year, the Gansu Provincial Internet Hospital was jointly established by WeDoctor and the Gansu Second Provincial People’s Hospital. Since its launch, ten provincial-level Grade A tertiary hospitals, four prefecture-level Grade A tertiary hospitals, and more than one hundred primary healthcare institutions have been integrated into the platform, with online consultations exceeding 40,000 visits. Through the Gansu Internet Hospital platform, the Wuwei Cancer Hospital in Gansu Province has connected with 106 township health centers across three counties and one district in Wuwei, providing diagnostic and treatment guidance to local primary care physicians via remote outpatient services and remote consultations.

Internet hospitals can effectively promote the decentralization of high-quality medical resources to the grassroots level, enhance the service capabilities of county-level hospitals, and have been continuously validated in practice.

Starting with the Wuzhen Internet Hospital, WeDoctor has established internet hospitals in 17 provinces and municipalities, including Guangzhou, Shanghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Ningxia. Through these provincially deployed internet hospitals, the Wuzhen Internet General Practice Hospital extends its reach downward, connecting medical institutions and physicians at all levels—province, city, county, township, and even village—thereby providing strong impetus to the “Double Thousand Plan.” It is conceivable that, with the continued support of the internet and big data, accessible and tailored home-based medical services will soon become a reality for the general public.