Wang Shirui: Enabling Doctors to Focus on Medicine as Medlinker's Ecosystem Takes Shape

In September 2015, Medlinker secured $40 million in Series B funding from Tencent and YF Capital. At that time, Wang Shirui hoped that this round of financing would enable the company to expand its physician network to 400,000–500,000 within one year. He believed that only with a sufficiently large base of physicians could Medlinker accumulate enough case data on its platform to develop more viable business models, thereby allowing doctors to earn income in a more dignified manner.

In early 2016, Medlinker quietly launched its physician consultation feature.To this end, YiLian has evolved from a professional academic social platform for physicians into a comprehensive ecosystem dedicated to “serving all aspects of physicians’ needs.” It helps doctors build robust and positive personal brands, provides services supporting independent practice, and establishes an efficient, professional platform.

80% of Doctors in Tier-3 Hospitals Are Not Well-Served by Internet Healthcare Services

The tightening of registration policies is undoubtedly a significant boon to Yilian’s outpatient services. By mandating the elimination of practices such as adding extra appointments beyond capacity and cracking down on ticket scalpers, certified physicians on Yilian’s platform can better leverage their available time to provide consultations at other private medical institutions. In this process, Yilian serves as an information platform, establishing communication channels between physicians and among physicians and medical institutions. “We communicate with medical institutions to inform them about suitable doctors available for consultations at their facilities,” said Wang Shirui. In fact, many physicians have this need. When a majority of users submit requests through our backend system, we cannot simply ignore them.

Interestingly, all physicians practicing on the Yilian platform are from Grade 3A hospitals, but they are not all at the chief physician level; most are attending physicians.

“Eighty percent of doctors in China’s Grade 3A hospitals are not well served by internet-based solutions,” says Wang Shirui. He believes that many physicians have been overlooked by the digital healthcare industry. Most products focus on chief physicians and renowned specialists, yet many attending physicians possess excellent clinical skills. “I aim to tap into the potential of those highly capable doctors who have yet to be recognized.”

However, recruiting these physicians comes at a cost. An attending physician lacks name recognition. When such a doctor provides consultations at another hospital, the likely outcome is that no patients show up. Wang Shirui stated, “This situation does indeed exist. However, in some private medical institutions, there is an insufficient reserve of physicians. As long as a doctor’s clinical competence is adequate, there is market demand regardless of their professional title.”

Certainly, the Medical Association takes appropriate measures to help doctors with brand endorsement, providing a reference for patients. For example, establishing an online rating system for doctors that presents their department, clinical capabilities, and diseases they specialize in treating.

In fact, Medlinker has introduced a “Clinical Competency Evaluation System” from Harvard University, making corresponding improvements based on China’s national conditions (this evaluation standard had previously been introduced and optimized by the Shenzhen Municipal Government and is already undergoing regional pilot testing). With evaluation systems in place for both healthcare institutions and physicians, the path toward collaboration with insurance providers has become smoother. Currently, Medlinker has partnered with an internet-based insurance institution to launch China’s first surgical insurance policy, under which patients are the policyholders.

Connect with Doctors via Two Methods

“To some extent, the outpatient services provided by Yilian resemble the functions performed by most physician groups. The difference lies in the fact that ‘Yilian is an internet company focused on connectivity, whereas physician groups are more service-oriented,’” mentioned Wang Shirui. He noted that the core value of a physician group resides in each physician’s experience—specifically, whether the support services they receive are satisfactory and whether all non-clinical matters are fully handled for them. However, such a service model is too “heavy” for Yilian. Instead, Yilian adopts a product-centric approach, providing physicians with a platform for self-management.

“We also welcome physician groups to use Medlinker.”

To better connect with physicians, Medlinker has established two strategic directions.

1. Advance the development of the self-built Yilian Cloud – Medical Service Management Platform, while seeking companies with capabilities in medical image transmission technology and integration with diagnostic equipment. Yilian aims to enable seamless data transmission across PC, tablet, and mobile platforms, facilitating real-time information exchange among physicians and between physicians and healthcare institutions anytime, anywhere.

2. Furthermore, Yilian will attempt to establish a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) diagnosis and treatment model. Similar to WeDoctor Group’s “WeDoctor Expert Teams,” this model forms a working group comprising specialists from departments such as general surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, radiology, pathology, and endoscopy centers. However, the MDT model is distinct in that it focuses on specific patient cases, collaboratively proposing the optimal treatment plan through consultations, with the final implementation carried out jointly by the relevant disciplines or the multidisciplinary team.

Shaping a New Healthcare Ecosystem with the Internet

For the new healthcare ecosystem chain that Wang Shirui aims to build, outpatient services, insurance, and other elements are merely components within this ecosystem.

“I’m more results-driven when it comes to getting things done.” Perhaps this outcome-oriented mindset destined Wang Shirui to bear “fruit” in the medical field from the moment he chose to pursue medicine.

Wang Shirui earned his Ph.D. from the West China School of Stomatology, Sichuan University. In 2013, he pursued advanced studies at Harvard University as a visiting scholar.

In mid-2014, during discussions with his domestic mentors, Wang Shirui keenly recognized that independent practice by physicians in China would become an emerging trend. “I believe that if physicians are allowed to practice independently, or if the state genuinely pursues systemic reforms, doctors will be the primary beneficiaries.” The most efficient way to support physicians, he reasoned, was through the internet. Gradually, a new healthcare ecosystem began to take shape in Wang’s mind. At that time, physician-focused social platforms such as Figure 1 were gaining traction abroad. Consequently, Wang decided to return to China and leverage the internet, starting with pure physician networking services. He aimed to continuously expand into additional offerings for doctors, even integrating products with wearable devices, establishing connections with insurance companies, and collaborating with pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers on academic promotion of related products, ultimately realizing the healthcare ecosystem he had envisioned.

In fact, the current development of Yilian is faster than Wang Shirui had anticipated. At that time, his plan was to complete the construction of this ecosystem within 10 years. It now appears that this goal may be achieved in a shorter timeframe, perhaps requiring only the next 5 to 8 years.

This new ecosystem aims to achieve three objectives: to ensure greater safety and security for physicians in their clinical practice; to foster greater patient trust in doctors; and to streamline hospital management, enabling doctors to focus on medical expertise, ultimately allowing healthcare to remain dedicated to medicine.

“Traditional Chinese medicine treats the person, while Western medicine treats the disease.” This is a common perception among the public when seeking medical care. In reality, Western medicine can also focus on the “person” in the future. When free practice by physicians is truly implemented on a large scale, patients will no longer need to choose a hospital before selecting a doctor. Physicians will represent their own brands, rather than being defined by the institutional system.

When physicians establish their own professional brands and enjoy sufficient autonomy over their schedules, they gain greater agency, enabling more opportunities for long-term communication with patients or, within the framework of tiered diagnosis and treatment, for engaging with patients who are well-suited to their expertise. In such scenarios, adequate doctor-patient communication will significantly reduce the likelihood of medical disputes and violence against healthcare providers.

For hospitals, granting physicians greater autonomy translates into easier management. “Our hospital essentially plays both paternal and maternal roles.” In the United States, hospitals and physicians mostly maintain a collaborative relationship, with physicians bearing responsibility for their own clinical practices. Hospitals need only ensure the provision of appropriate hardware, software, facilities, support services, nursing care, anesthesia, and environmental cleaning systems.

Why enter the internet healthcare sector through social networking? Wang Shirui stated, “First, it is my area of expertise. Second, I believe this approach is the most effective way to quickly engage and retain physicians. Furthermore, compared with other methods, this approach incurs significantly lower costs.”

By February 2016, Medlinker had aggregated approximately 400,000 physicians. By the end of 2016, Medlinker aimed to conduct 100 multidisciplinary consultations per day.

Reporter's Notes:

February 25 News: On the 25th, Forbes released its inaugural Asia edition of the “30 Under 30” list, selecting 300 outstanding young individuals across ten sectors. Rana Wehbe, Senior Web Editor at Forbes Asia, described these honorees as innovative and influential leaders in their respective fields, identifying those who “could become the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg within the next five to ten years.” “They are confident and clear about what they are doing. They are ambitious and very young.”

Wang Shirui’s name is also on the list.

The award citation stated, “In China, where high-quality physician resources are scarce, you can either train more doctors or enhance the efficiency of existing physicians. Wang Shirui’s Medlinker project is moving toward the latter.”

As Wei Huana noted, Wang Shirui is quite young. Compared with industry veterans, younger professionals possess unique advantages beyond mere learning and collaboration. “I am willing to attempt initiatives that others may not yet have fully prepared for or thoroughly considered. Because I carry less baggage in my current endeavors, I can rethink matters from the ground up. In contrast, when veterans undertake projects, they tend to factor in all their prior accumulation, focusing on how to leverage their existing expertise to pioneer new ventures.”

In the realm of internet healthcare, new entrants join and others depart every day; fresh initiatives are launched daily, and with each passing day, some draw closer to success.

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