Key Insights from Shenzhen Health Commission, Tencent, and Ping An Insurance at the 2016 China Hospital Internet Healthcare Conference
On April 15, the 2016 China Hospital Internet Healthcare Conference was officially held at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. This conferenceHosted by the medical community, Yishengzhan, and Beikeshe,Organized by Shenzhen Creative Era Exhibition Co., Ltd.Wu Yupu, Vice President and Secretary-General of the China National Health Industry Enterprise Management Association; Luo Lexuan, Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission and Party Secretary; and Liu Jilan, Vice President of HIMSS and Managing Director for Greater China, among others, shared their perspectives on internet-based healthcare in hospitals. Below are highlights of their insights.
Figure: Scene from the 2016 China Hospital Internet Healthcare Conference
Wu Yupu, Vice President and Secretary-General of the China National Health Industry Enterprise Management Association: In 2016, Internet healthcare became “universally beloved.”
The rapid development of smart healthcare is transforming people’s concepts, models, conditions, and environments in medical care. In 2015, a large number of startups and innovative projects emerged in the smart healthcare sector. The three internet giants—Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent (BAT)—also strategically entered the field. Smart healthcare initiatives, represented by mobile health, doctor-patient communication platforms, and physician groups, have received significant attention and strong support from the government and various capital investors.
According to incomplete statistics, there are already more than 3,000 projects in the aforementioned smart healthcare sector, which cumulatively attracted over RMB 10 billion in various types of investments in 2015. However, it is undeniable that behind the rapid development of the smart healthcare industry lie substantial risks and challenges. Most projects remain at a preliminary stage, focusing merely on using information technology to improve the efficiency of information exchange in medical processes, without yet integrating with the core technologies of medical services. Business models remain unclear, with many enterprises and projects still engaged in homogeneous competition and unsustainable growth fueled by investor capital aimed primarily at gaining attention. Meanwhile, the drawbacks of smart healthcare are gradually becoming apparent: difficulty in meeting patients’ personalized needs, marginalization of data, low clinical value, and insufficient data integration, among others.
The Hottest Topic in Smart Healthcare in 2016 Will Be—Connected Healthcare. In just one year, connected healthcare has transformed from “struggling to survive” to “widely embraced.”
Luo Lexuan, Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission and Secretary of its Party Committee: Shenzhen Will Continue to Promote the Development of Internet Healthcare
With the deepening development of social informatization, the Internet has played an increasingly significant role in advancing human civilization. Following the national proposal of the “Internet Plus” initiative, how to leverage Internet technologies to enhance medical efficiency has become not only a key concern for healthcare institutions but also a focus of active government guidance.
In 2015, the State Council issued the Outline of Actions to Promote Big Data Development and the Guiding Opinions on Actively Advancing the “Internet Plus” Action, incorporating big data in medical and health services into the public service big data project. It actively promoted “Internet Plus” services, explored the establishment of new models for online healthcare, and facilitated the development of smart health and elderly care.
As a pioneer of China’s reform and opening-up, Shenzhen has consistently upheld innovation as the core strategy for urban development and actively built a comprehensive ecological system. Driving the transition from follower to leader in innovation, the city has achieved a scientific and technological contribution rate exceeding 60%, with a dense emergence of innovative outcomes. In 2015, the value added of Shenzhen’s seven strategic emerging industries grew by 16.1%, while the next-generation information technology and internet industries expanded by 19.1% and 19.3%, respectively. Shenzhen boasts prominent advantages in its next-generation information technology industry, with domestically leading capabilities in supercomputing, cloud computing, and big data, providing robust technical support for the development of the healthcare industry.
As one of the first pilot cities for healthcare reform in China, Shenzhen has actively explored mobile healthcare. Over the years, while promoting healthcare informatization, the government has established a centralized big data repository within the citywide unified Medical and Health Information Center, in accordance with strategic planning, and has built the largest online appointment registration platform in the country. In 2015, Shenzhen’s appointment registration platform recorded approximately 15 million visits, with over 1 million online payments processed, and more than 50,000 daily users accessing the platform. Meanwhile, Shenzhen has made significant progress in Nanshan District by establishing a district-level internet cloud computing platform. The Nanshan District Regional Internet Platform, which can be described as a nascent form of a mobile internet hospital cluster, was officially launched in July of last year. It connects all hospitals and community health centers in the Nanshan area, thereby advancing the development of the Nanshan Medical Service Platform.
Currently, mobile healthcare remains in its nascent stage, having achieved only the basic connectivity of information between hospitals and patients. The overall development of mobile healthcare across the medical industry is uneven, with fragmented efforts. The vast majority of hospitals have yet to implement mobile healthcare applications, and a citywide mobile healthcare system has not been established. Further breakthroughs are needed in consultation models and network integration.
In response, the Shenzhen Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission plans to strengthen citywide informatization initiatives, with a particular focus on advancing mobile internet applications. Leveraging data center infrastructure, the commission will develop resident health service platforms featuring functions such as appointment scheduling and inquiries, establish mobile service platforms for mobile healthcare, and build comprehensive medical and health service business platforms covering basic medical services, medical collaboration, integrated management, and inspection and testing center services. Network hospitals will utilize mobile diagnosis and treatment service systems to enable physicians to conduct offline clinical consultations via online platforms, while patients receive corresponding diagnostic and therapeutic services in person. Smartphones will address needs during and after diagnosis and treatment, allowing physicians to perform mobile office tasks and ensuring they can carry out clinical work anytime and anywhere.
HIMSSVice President and Greater China Director Liu Jilan: HIMSS and Healthcare in Transition
Currently, the widespread presence of hospital information silos and fragmented data has made information technology a prerequisite for medical development, driven by the demand for more efficient and direct information processing and interaction.
What HIMSS is doing is helping hospitals better achieve the core objectives of healthcare delivery through a mature set of standard models, making healthcare simpler, optimized, more efficient, and more secure.
HIMSS is a non-profit healthcare IT association headquartered in Chicago. HIMSS represents the transformation and optimization of healthcare driven by technology. As an industry association, HIMSS’s primary function is to facilitate communication and exchange among professionals by organizing events such as the HIMSS Annual Conference. Its second function is to provide training for healthcare IT professionals, helping technical personnel deepen their understanding of medical backgrounds and healthcare operational strategies.
Currently, based on the rating model established by HIMSS, hospitals can achieve paperless operations and automation, with automatic data collection, extraction, and sharing, thereby facilitating the development of smart hospitals. Liu Jilan believes that, against the backdrop of the national government’s vigorous promotion of informatization and the “Internet Plus” initiative, China’s electronic medical record (EMR) capabilities, and indeed its overall healthcare informatization landscape, will continue to improve significantly.
Fu Ying, CEO of Shikang Group: A New Model for Healthcare Reform in Western China
Compared with the resource-rich and economically developed eastern regions, hospital renovations in western provinces and municipalities have not received sufficient attention, and well-managed hospital systems have yet to take root in the west.
Ms. Fu Ying, CEO of Shikang Group, believes that for hospitals in western China to reform and develop, they must first focus on building their own internal systems, while also closely integrating with the internet.
“The internet has brought significant opportunities to western China, as it bridges geographical gaps and reduces the time and distance required for interpersonal communication,” said Fu Ying. She noted that implementing big data in western regions requires robust information platforms; if a comprehensive system is established, thousands of county- and district-level hospitals in western China could achieve interoperability and data exchange through big data.
Gu Haijun, Head of the Open Platform at Tencent’s WeChat Business Group: A WeChat Medical Ecosystem Is Taking Shape
As the number of WeChat users continues to grow, leveraging its hundreds of millions of active users, WeChat has gradually become a key entry point for numerous internet-based healthcare products. Gu Haijun, head of the Open Platform at Tencent’s WeChat Group, stated, “By integrating WeChat with health platforms, medical data such as health records and health insurance information can be consolidated, thereby enabling the development of more diverse service models.”
Data shows that healthcare services account for 8% of WeChat’s City Services platform. The WeChat ecosystem is beginning to take shape, primarily comprising three key user groups: first, hospitals, which leverage official accounts mainly to provide medical informatics services; second, third-party platforms, mostly established by official entities, which perform well in terms of service breadth but still have room for deeper vertical integration; and third, mobile health companies. He also noted that WeChat’s healthcare ecosystem continues to expand, with an increasing number of doctors and medical departments thriving within the WeChat ecosystem.
Furthermore, Gu Haijun stated that WeChat aims to provide robust support to the healthcare industry, particularly hospitals, by leveraging IT-enabled medical services and service-oriented informatization. Any public hospital with proper authorization can initiate collaboration through our WeChat Official Account platform.
Mao Weibiao, General Manager of Ping An Health Insurance Company of China: Commercial Insurance Comes into the Spotlight
As healthcare services continue to expand and public demand for medical care grows, commercial health insurance is increasingly becoming the choice of more individuals. In this broader context, the integration of commercial insurance with internet-based healthcare can foster new models within the medical sector.
Mao Weibiao, General Manager of Ping An Health Insurance Company of China, stated, “In developed markets, commercial health insurance accounts for approximately 30% to 40% of the market share, whereas in China, the current proportion is likely only 2%–3%, indicating substantial room for growth.”
In the internet era, leveraging modern technology enables greater innovation across all aspects of service products and operations. Insurance, in particular, can deliver enhanced services to policyholders through internet-based models. This improvement is reflected not only in payment processes but also in the development of innovative insurance products.