Insurance+ Series: Taikang Online and China-Japan Friendship Hospital Forge Innovative Partnership in Specialty Disease-Focused Commercial Health Insurance

This is the second installment of our series, focusing on the collaboration between Taikang Online and China-Japan Friendship Hospital in specialty-specific disease management and commercial medical insurance.

China-Japan Friendship Hospital (hereinafter referred to as “China-Japan Hospital”) is a large-scale, comprehensive, Grade A tertiary hospital directly affiliated with the National Health and Family Planning Commission. It was inaugurated on October 23, 1984.

Zhang Zhixin

Director of the Medical Insurance Office, China-Japan Friendship Hospital; Chief Physician; Professor; Doctoral Supervisor

Director Zhang Zhixin told VCBeat, “The former Basic Medical Insurance Office was responsible for basic medical insurance. Starting last year, the hospital has sought to place greater emphasis on the development of commercial health insurance in addition to basic medical insurance. President Wang Chen has been actively advocating for the development of the hospital’s three core markets.”

According to Zhang Zhixin, since last year, the Medical Insurance Office has taken on responsibilities beyond basic medical insurance, including liaising on commercial medical insurance product design, domestic development, and policy research. To enhance collaboration with commercial insurance companies, China-Japan Friendship Hospital has expanded its commercial medical insurance initiatives primarily in the following areas:

1. Established a Commercial Health Insurance Working Group at China-Japan Friendship Hospital to explore how the hospital can align its operations with the specific characteristics of commercial health insurance;

2. Designate a dedicated commercial health insurance liaison officer in each hospital department and provide regular training on the development trends and dynamics of commercial health insurance, thereby enabling more physicians to understand commercial health insurance and recognize the trend of mutual promotion and co-development between commercial insurance and healthcare services;

3. Establish a team of physicians for hospital-based commercial health insurance services; as envisioned, these service providers will receive insurance service training through commercial insurance companies, tailored to the needs of commercial health insurance customers in the future.

The China-Japan Friendship Hospital’s philosophy for collaborating with commercial insurance companies comprises two key points:

1. Professionalism: Deliver more specialized and high-quality insurance services tailored to specific populations;

2. Convenience: Through the commercial medical insurance model, insured clients can be provided with a green channel for accessing enhanced services in hospitals.

Under these two premises, China-Japan Friendship Hospital signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Insurance Society of China in 2015, presenting its vision for the development of commercial insurance to more than 20 insurance companies. With an open mindset, China-Japan Friendship Hospital opened its platform to engage with commercial insurance providers. Against this backdrop, Taikang Online actively pursued collaboration with China-Japan Friendship Hospital to explore new commercial medical insurance products.

“We believe that commercial health insurance plays an irreplaceable role in the development of specialized disciplines and disease-specific care. The distribution channels of commercial health insurance themselves serve as effective marketing avenues for hospitals to promote their strong disciplinary brands. In this context, Taikang Online approached us with the aim of expanding our concepts into tangible insurance products,” said Zhang Zhixin.

Zhang Zhixin recalled, “In previous collaborations, due to the large scale of our public hospital system and the numerous departments involved, the product development cycle for partners was often lengthy, sometimes taking as long as six months. Taikang Online is different; their team is highly driven, communicating with us from morning till night and continuously improving the product. Although this project has not yet been formally signed, it is basically mature. In addition, China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Taikang Online have initiated discussions on collaboration in the field of telemedicine, which has now entered the product design phase.”

1. In this way, treatment modalities and pharmaceuticals with significant advantages in disciplinary development are made available to a broader base of insurance customers through such projects for promotional and informational purposes;

2. Conduct specific assessments of patients through questionnaires and other methods, enabling precise treatment based on the assessment results;

3. The Internet better aligns with the consumption habits of today’s youth and general population, making insurance and healthcare services more accessible and enabling more effective reach to target users;

4. By procuring medical services through insurance companies, a relatively lower commercial price is secured from hospitals, significantly reducing patients’ healthcare costs;

5. As third-party institutions, insurance companies monitor the requests and evaluations submitted by insured patients, thereby indirectly promoting the improvement of hospital medical quality;

6. Provide patients with financial compensation for medical malpractice and accidents, thereby alleviating tensions in the doctor-patient relationship to a certain extent.

It is reported that the coverage rate of China’s basic medical insurance has exceeded 90%, essentially covering the entire population. However, the depth of coverage provided by basic medical insurance fails to meet the needs of all citizens, particularly the demands of middle- and high-income groups for services such as health management. While basic medical insurance covers essential disease treatment, it does not extend to comprehensive health and chronic disease management.

In this context, Zhang Zhixin expressed great optimism when discussing the future development and integration of commercial medical insurance and basic medical insurance. She told VCBeat, “It is the responsibility of basic medical insurance to ensure that patients have access to treatment when they are ill. In contrast, commercial medical insurance complements basic medical insurance by focusing on disease prevention before illness occurs. One emphasizes breadth, while the other emphasizes depth; the two are mutually reinforcing. Therefore, we are very optimistic about our collaboration with Taikang Online. This partnership holds significant meaning, as it will enable us to accelerate the development of medical insurance, explore specific specialty disease areas through commercial medical insurance products, and make positive contributions to China’s medical insurance landscape.”

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