National Health Commission and Seven Other Ministries Launch Special Campaign Against 'Ticket Scalpers' and 'Online Medical Brokers'

Text | Compiled from Beijing Daily and 39 HealthOn May 3, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), 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 Second Hospital of the Beijing Municipal Corps of the Armed Police, a medical facility involved in the “Wei Zexi incident.”Meanwhile, to crack down on illicit activities such as “appointment scalping” and “online patient brokering” through paid search ranking, eight departments—including the NHFPC, 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 initiated a nationwide special campaign to rectify these practices. Medical institutions that employ improper methods, such as hiring “patient brokers,” to solicit patients will be subject to a demerit system for unethical professional conduct. It is reported that “online patient brokers” generally use two methods to lure patients: first, companies locate and add patients via social media platforms such as WeChat and QQ, directing 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 NHFPC stated that if hospitals engage in internal ticket scalping or other behaviors that cause serious negative social impact, both the individuals directly responsible and the primary leaders of the hospital’s Party and administrative bodies will be held accountable. For medical institutions that adopt improper methods such as hiring “patient brokers” to recruit patients, a demerit system for unethical professional conduct will be explored to strengthen disciplinary measures.This signals the official commencement of a storm of medical sector rectification. Notably, on February 24, 2016, the Beijing Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission issued the “Notice on Carrying Out Cleanup Work Regarding Medical Personnel Seeking Illicit Benefits Through Commercial Companies for Appointment Registration and Additional Slot Allocation,” deciding to conduct a cleanup across all public hospitals in the city from that date until March 25, 2016, targeting medical personnel who sought illegitimate gains by using commercial companies to reserve appointments and secure additional slots. This rectification campaign will be carried out in three phases.The Special Campaign is Divided into Three PhasesBy the end of June, each province shall identify key hospitals to be included in the list for rectification of outstanding issues, target individuals known as “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 referral touting.” Localities shall establish public complaint mechanisms, publish hotline numbers, and promptly address societal concerns.From July to October, public security organs in the locations of key hospitals shall organize monthly crackdown operations against “scalpers.” Cases involving clues of organized crime behind the scenes, mafia-like activities, or collusion between insiders and outsiders shall be targeted 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 health and family planning administrative departments; unreviewed medical advertisements are strictly prohibited. Administration for Industry and Commerce departments shall investigate and punish illegal and non-compliant publication of medical advertisements; telecommunications regulatory authorities shall handle non-compliant healthcare and medical institution websites; and health and family planning administrative departments shall investigate and punish illegal and non-compliant practice behaviors by medical institutions. Key hospitals shall uniformly abolish doctors’ personal manual add-on appointment slips, and medical personnel are strictly prohibited from seeking illegitimate benefits through commercial companies for appointment registration or add-on slots.From November to December, the special campaign will expose typical and major cases. Provincial-level health and family planning administrative departments shall compile identity information of “scalpers” penalized by public security organs and submit it to the NHFPC Supervision Center to establish a “scalper” blacklist, which shall be incorporated into the national social credit system. Administration for Industry and Commerce departments shall investigate and punish illegal and non-compliant publication of medical advertisements, as well as internet enterprises suspected of engaging in “online medical referral touting.”Does This Crackdown Harm Mobile Healthcare?Will This Crackdown Harm Mobile Healthcare? In fact, as health and family planning authorities require large hospitals to implement comprehensive appointment-based registration for all non-emergency cases, abolish physicians’ authority to manually add appointments, and prohibit “public hospital medical staff from profiting through commercial companies by offering appointment and registration services,” many physicians at tertiary Grade A hospitals have begun uninstalling mobile healthcare apps from their phones. Mobile healthcare companies that have targeted “specialists” and “specialist appointments” as their market entry point or even core business are now facing significant impacts and the need to make strategic transformations.Some analysts argue that public hospitals should centralize appointment slots to ensure fair and transparent allocation of medical resources based on patients’ clinical conditions. Regarding appointment slots, particularly those for specialists, mobile healthcare companies have lost their competitiveness whether they collaborate with individual physicians or shift their partnerships to hospitals.Other experts have pointed out that this round of registration reforms in tertiary Grade A hospitals—ranging from establishing specialist teams and abolishing physicians’ manual appointment additions to cracking down on individual physicians’ profiteering through online registration and appointment additions—is compelling large hospitals to first implement internal triage based on clinical severity. It is also forcing mobile healthcare companies, which are still in the early stages of striving to share the market with large hospitals by engaging their physicians in online consultations, registrations, and appointment additions, to undergo transformation.