Wei Zexi Scandal Escalates: Armed Police Hospital Halts All Services, National Health Commission Suspends Clinical Use of Cell Immunotherapy

On May 3, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, in conjunction with the Health Bureau of the Logistics Support Department of the Central Military Commission and the Health Bureau of the Logistics Department of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force, launched an investigation into the Beijing Second General Corps Hospital of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force, a hospital involved in the “Wei Zexi incident.”

Meanwhile, to crack down on practices such as “appointment scalping” and paid search ranking by “online medical touts,” eight departments—including the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the Central Office for Comprehensive Social Management, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the Logistics Support Department of the Central Military Commission—have launched a nationwide special campaign to rectify these issues. Medical institutions that employ improper methods, such as hiring “medical touts,” to solicit patients will receive demerit points for unprofessional conduct. It is reported that “online medical touts” generally use two approaches to lure patients: first, companies locate and add patients via social media platforms such as WeChat and QQ, then refer them to partner hospitals; second, hospitals pay search engines like Baidu and Sogou for paid placement to achieve higher rankings in search results, thereby attracting patients.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission stated that if hospitals engage in internal ticket scalping or other misconduct causing serious negative social impact, both the individuals directly responsible and the principal leaders of the hospital’s Party and administrative bodies will be held accountable. For medical institutions that employ improper methods such as hiring “medical touts” to solicit patients, a demerit-point system for adverse professional conduct will be piloted to strengthen disciplinary measures.

This signals the official commencement of a sweeping healthcare rectification campaign. Notably, on February 24, 2016, the Beijing Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission issued the “Notice on Launching a Cleanup Operation Against Medical Personnel Seeking Illicit Benefits Through Commercial Companies for Appointment Registration and Additional Slot Allocation,” deciding to conduct a citywide cleanup in public hospitals targeting such misconduct by medical staff from that date until March 25, 2016. This rectification campaign will be carried out in three phases.

The Special Campaign is divided into three phases.

By the end of June, each province shall designate key hospitals for inclusion in the list of accounts subject to rectification, identify target groups of “scalpers” who frequently operate in and around these key hospitals, and formulate a unified provincial action plan. The Supervision Center of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) shall strengthen online information monitoring and collect data on websites offering “appointment registration proxy” services. Cyberspace administration authorities shall remove illegal, non-compliant, and harmful online information based on notifications from the NHFPC, while telecommunications regulatory authorities shall take enforcement actions against illegal and non-compliant websites involved in “scalping” and “online medical touting.” Localities shall establish public complaint mechanisms, publish hotline numbers, and promptly respond to public concerns.

From July to October, public security organs in the locations of key hospitals shall organize monthly operations to crack down on “appointment scalpers.” Any clues indicating illegal or criminal activities involving behind-the-scenes organization, gang-related or evil-force involvement, or collusion between insiders and outsiders shall be prioritized for stringent enforcement. Medical institutions publishing medical advertisements via the Internet must ensure that the content is consistent with what has been reviewed and approved by the health and family planning administrative departments; unreviewed medical advertisements are strictly prohibited. The administration for industry and commerce is responsible for investigating and penalizing illegal or non-compliant publication of medical advertisements; telecommunications authorities shall take action against healthcare and medical institution websites that violate laws and regulations; and health and family planning administrative departments shall investigate and punish medical institutions for illegal or non-compliant practice practices. Key hospitals shall uniformly eliminate physicians’ personal manual appointment-addition slips, and medical personnel are strictly prohibited from seeking illegitimate benefits through commercial companies for appointment registration or adding appointments.

From November to December, the special campaign will expose typical and major cases. Provincial health and family planning administrative departments will consolidate the identity information of “appointment scalpers” identified by public security organs, submit it to the National Health and Family Planning Commission’s Supervision Center to establish a “blacklist” of appointment scalpers, and incorporate this blacklist into the national social credit system. The administration for industry and commerce will investigate and punish illegal and non-compliant medical advertising practices, as well as internet companies suspected of engaging in “online medical referral touting.”

Has This Crackdown Affected Mobile Healthcare?

Will this regulatory crackdown adversely affect mobile healthcare? In practice, as health and family planning authorities require large hospitals to implement comprehensive appointment-based services for all non-emergency visits, eliminate physicians’ authority to manually add patient slots, and prohibit “public hospital medical staff from profiting by arranging additional appointments or registrations through commercial companies,” many physicians at tertiary Grade A hospitals have begun uninstalling mobile healthcare apps from their smartphones. Mobile healthcare companies that have positioned “specialist consultations” and “specialist appointment slots” as their market entry point or even core business are now facing significant disruptions and the need to make strategic transformations.

Some analysts argue that public hospitals should centralize their appointment slots to ensure a fair and transparent allocation of medical resources based on patients’ conditions. In terms of appointment availability, especially for specialist consultations, mobile health companies have lost their competitiveness, whether they partner with individual physicians or shift to collaborating with hospitals.

Relevant experts have also stated that this round of registration reforms in tertiary hospitals—ranging from the establishment of expert teams and the elimination of manual appointment additions by physicians, to the crackdown on individual doctors’ profit-seeking behaviors through online registration and appointment additions—is compelling large hospitals to first implement internal triage based on patients’ conditions. It is also forcing mobile healthcare companies, which are still in the early stages of striving to share the market with large hospitals by facilitating online consultations, registrations, and appointment additions by hospital physicians, to undergo transformation.