WeDoctor Expands into Sichuan: CEO Liao Jieyuan Unveils Three Major Initiatives

On October 27, the Sichuan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission signed a strategic cooperation agreement with WeDoctor. The two parties will engage in in-depth collaboration in areas such as the development of internet hospitals, the promotion and application of cloud-based resident health cards, the enhancement of general practitioners’ service capabilities, and the advancement of family doctor contract services. The signing of numerous cooperative projects marks WeDoctor’s strong entry into the Sichuan market. Meanwhile, the Sichuan WeDoctor Internet Hospital was officially inaugurated in Jinjiang District, Chengdu.

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat), as one of the first invited media outlets, toured the hospital campus. Liao Jieyuan, Chairman and CEO of WeDoctor, told reporters on site that the biggest difference between Sichuan WeDoctor Internet Hospital and the internet hospitals of the past is its integration of online and offline services. Previous online services could meet needs such as pre-consultation triage, post-consultation follow-ups, and cross-disciplinary remote consultations, but they still lacked face-to-face examinations and surgical services for patients. Therefore, to form a complete medical closed loop, it is essential to combine online services with offline facilities. Delving deeper into this topic, Liao Jieyuan, Chairman and CEO of WeDoctor, revealed to VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) a series of major initiatives undertaken by WeDoctor since entering Sichuan Province.

Liao Jieyuan, Chairman and CEO of WeDoctor

According to Liao Jieyuan, at the newly established Sichuan WeDoctor Internet Hospital, 98% of services are still delivered online, with only 2% provided offline. This physical hospital primarily fulfills three functions assigned by WeDoctor: serving as a physician collaboration platform, promoting family doctor contract signing, and operating as an offline consultation and surgical platform.

First, a physician collaboration platform. As an internet hospital, its online nature is indispensable; thus, Sichuan WeDoctor Internet Hospital can be regarded as a collaboration platform for physicians. WeDoctor currently boasts over 7,200 expert teams and 220,000 physicians, who will provide continuous technical support and training to primary healthcare institutions across Sichuan Province, categorized by medical specialty. Technical support includes referral and consultation services, while training primarily refers to the continuous education provided to family physicians and general practitioners in Sichuan through the “WeDoctor Academy of General Practice,” jointly established with Fudan University Shanghai Medical College.

Second, promote the contracted services of family doctors. Currently, China is implementing family doctor contract services nationwide; however, in most regions, services are not actually delivered after contracts are signed. WeDoctor has established a physical internet hospital in Sichuan with the aim of enabling doctors to deliver services to each family entirely online. Based on each resident’s electronic health record, patients can access services such as medical consultations, health management, and chronic disease management. In particular, for the management of chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes, expert teams provide one-to-many services. This approach transforms the passive model of “seeing a doctor only after falling ill” into proactive health management, which constitutes family doctor services in the true sense.

Third, to become an offline consultation and surgical platform. Sichuan WeDoctor Internet Hospital is located at a transportation hub in Jinjiang District, Chengdu, adjacent to high-speed rail and subway stations, making it highly suitable as a multidisciplinary intra-diagnostic consultation center. It offers convenient transportation for visiting experts. Meanwhile, the hospital will establish Class 100 laminar flow operating rooms, where the bacterial count in each cubic meter of air does not exceed 100, meeting the industry’s highest cleanliness standards. In the future, patients from Sichuan and even the entire Southwest China region can undergo surgeries here following online and offline consultations.

On June 25, the National Health and Family Planning Commission released the National Family Health Service Platform. What is the significance of this platform? Liao Jieyuan told reporters that the greatest challenge within China’s healthcare system is the shortage of family doctors, whereas in Europe and the United States, 80%–90% of initial consultations are handled by family physicians. The lack of family doctors has led to patients flocking indiscriminately to large hospitals, making “difficulty in accessing medical care” a primary contradiction. At the latest National Conference on Health and Wellness, the state once again emphasized the shift from passive medical treatment to proactive health management. To achieve proactive health, it is essential to establish a “gatekeeper” mechanism for health and vigorously develop the family doctor system. However, if a single family doctor were to serve 1,000 families or 3,000 residents through conventional face-to-face consultations, it would clearly be unfeasible. This is where an internet-based family health service platform becomes necessary. WeDoctor interprets this platform’s service model as “3+1.”

1. Refers to doctors providing services to the general public and contracted residents on the platform. Based on electronic health records, chronic disease management, health education, online consultations, online prescriptions, and other health management services are all completed online on the platform;

2. Collaboration among physicians. Given the substantial need for support among primary care physicians, WeDoctor conducts general practice training, specialist collaboration, referrals, and consultations entirely online;

3. Data connectivity and sharing of electronic medical records between primary healthcare institutions and higher-level medical institutions are all completed on the platform. The National Health and Family Planning Commission is currently paying close attention to the issue of data interoperability between primary healthcare institutions and large hospitals across Sichuan Province, which is also a core task in promoting national health and medical big data;

Family doctor contract services are overseen by local Health and Family Planning Commissions. Therefore, the “+1” in the “3+1” model refers to the Commission’s ability to conduct real-time statistical monitoring and analysis of family doctors’ service performance across their entire administrative jurisdiction. Through the Family Health Service Platform, the Health and Family Planning Commission can access data such as the number of residents under contract with family doctors, the volume of services provided, and patient feedback. These data are then used to determine performance-based incentives for family doctors.

On October 27, Jin Xiaotao, Deputy Director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and Zhang Bo, Deputy Director of the Sichuan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission, jointly unveiled the Southwest Center of the National Family Health Platform, with Sichuan Weiyi Internet Hospital serving as its supporting platform. Sichuan Weiyi Internet Hospital will provide “3+1” functional services to family doctors in the Southwest region, assisting them in enrolling residents under their care and fulfilling their role as health “gatekeepers.”

Among the key initiatives outlined in the cooperation agreement signed between WeDoctor and the Sichuan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission is the promotion of the Resident Health Card Cloud Card application, with phased issuance of the cloud-based cards. By leveraging technical solutions, WeDoctor has loaded the Ministry of Health’s cryptographic keys into the secure enclave of mobile operating systems, thereby enabling cardless transactions.

The Resident Health Card Cloud Card has three main features:

I. The Resident Health Cloud Card does not require any purchase cost; compared with the physical cards that previously cost around RMB 10 each, Sichuan Province has saved more than RMB 1 billion.

2. As a virtual card, the Resident Health Card Cloud Card can integrate all physical cards such as the former Resident Health Card, Social Security Card, Citizen Card, and Medical Visit Card;

III. The Resident Health Card Cloud Card integrates various functional services, including family doctor contract services, appointment registration, payment and settlement, electronic prescriptions, and online follow-up consultations. Through a single virtual card, users can access a wide range of internet-based application services, free from the chip capacity limitations associated with traditional physical cards.

Meanwhile, the state has established a series of encryption systems for the Resident Health Card Cloud Card. For instance, emergency centers are granted the highest level of access, enabling them to retrieve all patient information stored on the card, while doctors and nurses have distinct, role-based access privileges. Consequently, the Resident Health Card Cloud Card will serve as a health identity card.

It is evident that the Resident Health Card Cloud Card, the Family Health Service Platform, and the Internet Hospital will form a complete service chain. On the user end, the Resident Health Card Cloud Card is used in conjunction with the WeDoctor mobile application. On the network end, the Family Health Service Platform facilitates connectivity among physicians, between physicians and families, and among hospitals. Coupled with online consultations and e-prescriptions provided by the Internet Hospital, this establishes a comprehensive system. Finally, Liao Jieyuan informed reporters that the Sichuan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission signed a strategic cooperation agreement with WeDoctor, entrusting WeDoctor with the implementation of this closed-loop service system.

After Liao Jieyuan revealed WeDoctor’s upcoming strategic initiatives and major moves in Sichuan, the reporter also conducted interviews on several hot topics.

VB: Following the launch of Sichuan Internet Hospital, will WeDoctor expand its footprint with more offline internet hospitals?

Liao: The first Wuzhen Internet Hospital launched by WeDoctor is an online-offline integrated internet hospital, and the Sichuan Internet Hospital is another typical representative. Healthcare must integrate online and offline services; although the proportion of diagnosis and treatment that can be delivered offline is limited, the absence of this component prevents the completion of a closed-loop healthcare system. WeDoctor has currently established two types of offline internet hospitals: one is general hospitals, similar to the Sichuan Internet Hospital; the other is General Practice Medical Centers. The first such center will be launched in Hangzhou, while centers in Shanghai and Shenzhen are under construction. General Practice Medical Centers can provide initial consultations and primary care training services. Compared with general hospitals, they do not offer surgical or inpatient services.

VB: What criteria do you think must be met to qualify as an internet hospital?

Liao: First, it must be a formally registered offline medical institution. Second, it must possess a high-performance telemedicine platform that has undergone rigorous security certification to safeguard the privacy data of a large volume of patients. Meanwhile, the platform must have massive data processing capabilities to support high-definition, concurrent video-to-video consultations. Third, it requires robust data connectivity, with greater capacity being preferable. This is essential to enable electronic medical records, inter-hospital data sharing, and user health record sharing; otherwise, online diagnosis and treatment would be meaningless. Fourth, it must serve as a platform for physicians’ multi-site practice across provincial boundaries, capable of verifying and registering qualifications for such practice. Therefore, an internet hospital is a platform with large-scale service capabilities. Its offline investment is not substantial; rather, it requires significant investment in IT infrastructure.

VB: How long is the planned timeline for Sichuan Internet Hospital to truly perfect its services?

Liao: The service roadmap that WeDoctor has formulated for Sichuan Internet Hospital begins with addressing the needs of remote cities. The first batch of beneficiaries is the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, aiming to provide equitable access to healthcare in the most underserved areas by decentralizing top-tier medical resources. Currently, WeDoctor has integrated data from nearly 200 hospitals in Sichuan. To achieve a qualitative improvement in primary healthcare, it is estimated that three years will be required.