Innovating Healthcare Services: Insights from Industry Leaders at Lenovo Star's WILL Conference

On July 9, 2016, the Legend Stars WILL Conference was held in Beijing, where industry professionals discussed innovations in medical services and shared their latest insights.

From left to right: Liu Qian, Founder of Unicorn Studio; Yu Ying, CEO of United Family Healthcare General Outpatient Clinic; Xia Yuanqing, Deputy General Manager of Honghe Medical Group; Li Xin, Director of Innovative Business at Ping An Health Insurance; Ai Qing, Founder and CEO of Lightness Medicine; Wei Kai, Executive Director of the Healthcare Services Investment Department at Legend Holdings.

Ping An Insurance examines the healthcare industry and market from the perspective of payment mechanisms, revealing that healthcare is a relatively unique sector operating within a third-party market. From the consumer’s standpoint, there is a need for multi-tiered medical services and convenient diagnosis and treatment models. Meanwhile, the healthcare industry is characterized by inherent information asymmetry, which prevents consumers from independently selecting services. The value of payers lies in facilitating consumers’ access to medical services and mitigating associated risks.

Li Xin stated that in previous years, insurers primarily focused on reimbursing patients’ diagnosis and treatment expenses. Currently, however, insurance companies are actively pursuing innovation and reform, striving to serve as a connector among the market, consumers, and service providers. Although commercial insurance accounts for only 10% of the medical insurance sector, it represents a powerful force driving innovation. Moreover, the objectives and direction of commercial insurance are fully aligned with those of public medical insurance schemes.

Currently, Ping An Insurance has partnered with private healthcare providers such as Amcare. Discussing the advantages of being a payer, Li Xin stated that Ping An Insurance has established a channel between commercial insurance and consumers. The next step is to complete the mechanism for mutual optimization and integration between commercial insurers and service providers, thereby building a seamless bridge between consumers and private service providers.

Legend Holdings’ primary investment focus lies in industrial and core-industry investments. In line with the unique characteristics of healthcare investing, it has long maintained a strategic focus on projects aligned with the sector’s developmental trends. For entrepreneurs, striking a balance between innovation within established institutional frameworks (“inside the system”) and outside them (“outside the system”), and designing appropriate mechanisms to support this balance, is a critical consideration worthy of deep reflection. Innovation within established institutions tends to be iterative in nature, whereas disruptive innovation predominantly originates from outside these structures. For startups operating outside the traditional system, innovation is an indispensable pathway to growth.

Wei Kai stated that, from an investor’s perspective, the key task is to help companies clarify their innovation and development directions amidst a landscape rife with uncertainties. First, innovation must align with national policy directives. Second, entrepreneurs should approach issues from the demand side. For instance, in the field of biotechnological innovation, the ease with which genetic testing has been promoted and disseminated can be attributed to the demand for adopting new technological innovations within the public hospital system.

Qingying Medicine is a social collaboration platform for physicians, designed to create new ways for doctors to work and learn in the mobile internet era. With healthcare being people-centric, Qingying Medicine optimizes traditional models through an online approach outside the existing system, thereby enhancing patients’ medical experience and improving physicians’ work efficiency.

Ai Qing stated that there are two critical factors for startups in the mobile health sector: capital operation capabilities and a profound understanding of the physician community.

Public hospitals and private hospitals operate on different dimensions when discussing innovative services, but the goal of innovation is always efficiency, cost control, and conveniently identifying target customer needs.

As an entrepreneur, Yu Ying stated that while healthcare entrepreneurship requires passion, it ultimately demands practical action. The most fundamental requirement is to adopt the patient’s perspective and provide the highest quality of care, followed by further considerations for integration with social insurance or commercial insurance. For primary healthcare services, project planning must be closely aligned with insurance mechanisms.

Innovations both within and outside the public healthcare system are gradually being refined and developed. Healthcare services provided by private capital serve as a supplement to the public healthcare system. The essence of innovation in modern medicine lies in advancements in medical technology, while innovations in healthcare services focus more on patient experience, ensuring quality of care, and improving efficiency.

Honghe Medical Group is committed to integrating modern medical principles with contemporary corporate management. By focusing on regional medical centers through an innovative model, the group aims to build the best hospitals accessible to the public. Leveraging this platform, it seeks to meet residents’ diverse medical and health needs at various stages and levels within community healthcare sectors—including health management, rehabilitation, and elderly care—thereby providing comprehensive, high-quality medical services. Xia Yuanqing stated that disrupting the healthcare industry is no easy task; innovation in offline medical services must align with both the intrinsic value and external boundaries of healthcare. Furthermore, while medical services are characterized by business homogenization, their service models are difficult to standardize, making rapid transformation challenging.