Jointown, Alibaba Health, and Wuhan Central Hospital Establish Integrated Telemedicine System with E-Prescription Pilot

On February 4, Jointown Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. announced that its subsidiary, Haoyaoshi Pharmacy, had been approved to conduct remote sales and delivery services for certain pharmaceutical products and to settle related fees online.

Jointown Pharmaceutical Group stated that the Hubei Provincial Food and Drug Administration, in an effort to encourage modern pharmaceutical logistics enterprises to participate in the separation of prescribing and dispensing under the new healthcare reform and to explore e-commerce sales and regulatory models for prescription drugs, has approved its wholly-owned subsidiary, Haoyaoshi Pharmacy Chain Co., Ltd., to pilot the remote sale and delivery of certain medications from the outpatient pharmacy of Wuhan Central Hospital, and has authorized Haoyaoshi to process related payments online.

VCBeat released on January 29“Alibaba Health 2.0 Is Here: This Time, It’s a Rural Showdown (Multiple Images)”It was pointed out that Alibaba Health implemented a strategic business transformation in December 2015, shifting from its previous strategy of building a full-chain cloud hospital platform to one that preserves existing interest structures and safeguards hospital interests. This new approach initiated comprehensive cooperation with Wuhan Central Hospital, integrating the hospital’s premium medical resources with Alibaba’s rural grassroots network, Cun Tao (Rural Taobao), and its online traffic hub, Tmall Pharmacy. The collaboration aims to provide remote consultations, pharmaceutical purchases, and delivery services to the vast rural population.



In the collaboration between Alibaba Health and Wuhan Central Hospital, the processes for drug distribution and payment have been clarified, with Jointown Pharmaceutical Group, a pharmaceutical distributor headquartered in Wuhan, assuming these responsibilities.

Thus, Alibaba Health, Wuhan Central Hospital, and Jointown Pharmaceutical Group have established a comprehensive telemedicine system covering both urban and rural areas.

According to VCBeat, Jointown Pharmaceutical Group boasts robust capabilities in pharmaceutical distribution, with the entire group operating 1.2 million square meters of warehousing space, a storage capacity of 4 million items, an outbound processing efficiency of 10,000 lines per hour, and a fleet of over 850 owned delivery vehicles. However, Jointown may still need to leverage Alibaba’s Cainiao Logistics to extend its coverage to rural areas, and may also rely on Alibaba’s Alipay for payment services.

In terms of online pharmacies, Jointown Pharmaceutical Group operates three e-commerce platforms: the “Jointown Pharmaceutical E-Commerce Trading Platform,” “Haoyaoshi Online Pharmacy,” and “QuMaiYao.com,” and has also opened a flagship store in the Tmall Health Pavilion.

As shown on its Tmall flagship store page, a prescription drug section has been launched (highlighted in the red box in the figure below).



Specific prescription medications cannot be purchased directly; users must complete the "Submit Request" step by providing a phone number to await contact from a pharmacist or by uploading an image of a paper prescription.





Perhaps the entire collaboration chain among Alibaba Health, Wuhan Central Hospital, and Jointown Pharmaceutical Group is as follows:
Rural residents, at the nearest Taobao service station in their area, connected with doctors from Wuhan Central Hospital via the online hospital platform of Tmall Pharmacy. After completing the consultation and receiving a prescription, they submitted the prescription and made payment through the flagship store of Haoyaoshi Pharmacy on Tmall Pharmacy. The medications were then delivered to the rural residents through the collaborative logistics efforts of Jointown Pharmaceutical Group’s proprietary logistics network and Cainiao Logistics.

Notably, Wuhan Central Hospital holds the greatest initiative throughout the entire collaboration chain. By leveraging its superior medical resources to integrate Alibaba’s rural grassroots outlets, logistics network, payment systems, and Jointown Pharmaceutical Group’s pharmaceutical distribution system, Wuhan Central Hospital may be pioneering a novel path for telemedicine and tiered diagnosis and treatment. VCBeat will continue to closely monitor the future developments of the innovative Wuhan Central Hospital.