The Rise of Personal Doctors in Mobile Healthcare: Igniting the Service War in China's Digital Health Market

At the Second World Internet Conference, held not long ago, “mobile health,” as a relatively emerging field, garnered significant attention. According to incomplete statistics, attendees mentioned terms related to “mobile health” more than 60 times. A diverse array of healthcare platforms based on mobile internet—such as medical O2O (online-to-offline) services, medical e-commerce, online appointment registration, post-consultation follow-up, cloud-based Hospital Information Systems (HIS), and physician forums—have flourished.

Today, medical services have achieved a qualitative leap. Technologies such as online appointment scheduling, electronic health record creation, remote consultations, and remote monitoring have improved diagnostic and treatment efficiency, and the mobile healthcare service model is gradually taking shape. However, the greatest value of mobile healthcare lies not in providing various service information and consultations, but in delivering personalized, private medical care tailored to individual customer needs, integrating high-quality resources across the healthcare sector to meet diverse health requirements. The emergence of mobile healthcare private doctors is precisely a response to this inevitable trend.

The Inevitability of Private Physicians in Mobile Healthcare

According to research reports from the World Health Organization (WHO), one-third of human diseases can be avoided through preventive healthcare, another third can be effectively controlled through early detection, and the remaining third can see improved treatment outcomes through effective communication of health information. Without professional medical and pharmaceutical knowledge, the general public often fails to promptly recognize and understand the body’s health signals—such as minor ailments and discomforts. In such cases, engaging a private physician represents one of the most effective avenues for health investment.
First, it effectively reduces the high costs associated with traditional private physician services.

In the context of traditional healthcare models, private physicians entail substantial financial costs, remaining largely inaccessible to the general public. However, the emergence of mobile health (mHealth) has transformed this landscape. By leveraging internet-based services, patients can effectively reduce medical expenses and save time, enabling ordinary individuals to access customized, personalized private healthcare services. Currently, mHealth platforms offering private physician services—such as Chunyu Yisheng, Ping An Good Doctor, and Guiyi Cloud—primarily operate on an annual subscription basis, with fees typically ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 RMB. This means that users can enjoy round-the-clock health support from experienced private physicians for less than 5 RMB per day, or even lower.

Secondly, leveraging internet technology helps to systematically establish electronic health records for users and, to some extent, alleviate tensions in doctor-patient relationships.

From a Western perspective, the term “private doctor” can be understood as referring to a physician who serves as an integral part of the family. Regardless of whether illnesses are minor or severe, a family typically has a designated doctor for medical care. This relationship often begins with the first doctor’s visit in childhood and continues into adulthood, lasting until the physician retires. A distinct advantage of this model is that the doctor gains an in-depth understanding of the patient, often without needing to consult medical records, fostering a harmonious doctor-patient relationship. This continuity of care can help avoid many of the doctor-patient disputes commonly seen in China.

In the “Personal Physician” service of mobile healthcare, the establishment of a long-term, stable, and harmonious doctor-patient relationship enables physicians to gain a comprehensive understanding of users’ health conditions. Furthermore, it assists users in creating and refining their personal health records, thereby facilitating more effective clinical consultations and personalized health management plans.
Finally, establishing stable relationships with personal physicians can increase user stickiness to the mobile healthcare platform.

Currently, as competition in the mobile health startup market intensifies, the severe homogenization of mobile health products cannot be masked by the appearance of a “hundred flowers blooming” landscape, even amidst such fierce rivalry.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 2,000 mobile health products on the market. The entry points can be broadly categorized into four types: online consultation, pharmaceutical e-commerce, patient-facing mobile doctor services (including appointment registration and medical guidance), and physician-specific platforms (including tool-based platforms and vertical communities). Among these, online consultation and patient-facing mobile doctor services are areas with significant product homogenization.

The key distinction between online healthcare products and other online offerings lies in their episodic utility. No user wishes to remain immersed in discussions about various medical conditions when they are healthy. When faced with illness, people invariably seek to resolve nearly all their concerns in the shortest possible time. While this expectation may seem unrealistic, it is rooted in human nature. Consequently, in a market characterized by severe homogenization, entrepreneurs must grapple with how to deliver superior services. The emergence of personal physicians offers a viable solution: by establishing long-term, effective doctor-patient relationships and cultivating consistent user engagement, companies can not only uncover sustainable revenue models but also enhance user stickiness.

Analysis of the Development of Private Doctor Services in 2015

The author conducted a categorical analysis of mobile private physician services available in the 2015 market, which can be broadly classified into: establishing health records for corporate employees, selling health cards, providing private physician health management for pregnancy, and offering upgraded services with proactive follow-ups. Below, representative apps will be selected to analyze the development of private physician services in 2015.

Guiyi Cloud: Adds prenatal and neonatal private physician services to its standard private physician offerings

How does private physician service differ from conventional mobile medical services? Guiyi Cloud provided two responses: one is home-visit service, and the other is tailored private physician services for specific user groups.

To this end, Guiyi Cloud has launched a Private Physician Service for Pregnancy and a combined Private Physician Service for Pregnancy and Newborns. Targeting specific demographics, this service addresses the pain points of frequent hospital visits and the anxiety associated with the unknown aspects of pregnancy and newborn care. By subscribing to the Private Physician Service for Pregnancy, patients receive a personalized, one-on-one care plan from a dedicated physician. The service includes monthly home visits for routine prenatal check-ups, fetal heart rate monitoring, and assessment of fetal position and size. This approach ensures that pregnant women do not miss critical examinations while significantly reducing the number of hospital visits required.

Currently, Guiyi Cloud offers two types of private physician services for pregnant women. One is the prenatal private physician service, which provides monthly home visits by physicians for prenatal examinations, fetal heart rate monitoring, and assessment of fetal position and size; schedules medical appointments for relevant prenatal tests to ensure that critical screenings (such as ultrasound scans for fetal anomalies) are not missed; develops personalized examination plans and provides professional analysis and interpretation of results; offers guidance on medication and diet throughout pregnancy; provides more professional consultation on pregnancy-related products; and allows users to request home visits from their private physician as needed.

The second option is a private physician service for maternity and newborn care. Building upon prenatal private physician services, it adds postpartum care during the first month after delivery, including monitoring the mother’s puerperium, assisting with breastfeeding, providing dietary guidance, and offering instruction on newborn feeding, bathing, disinfection of laundry and personal items, temperature measurement, observation of urination and defecation, umbilical cord care, as well as observation and nursing guidance for fever and diarrhea, thereby safeguarding the health of both the mother and the newborn.

Chunyu Doctor: Deploying Offline Clinics, Positioning as a Private Doctor Service for Long-Term Communication

This May, Chunyu Doctor announced the launch of its offline clinics. Chunyu will invite chief physicians from Grade A tertiary hospitals to provide consultations at these physical locations and offer private doctor services that integrate online and offline care.

According to Chunyu’s official introduction, the Chunyu Private Doctor service operates on an annual subscription model, providing users with year-long services at a fee of RMB 980 per year. Each user is assigned a dedicated online private physician who helps establish an electronic health record and monitors daily health data in real time. When offline medical care is needed, the physician assists with referrals to Chunyu Clinics, offering preliminary assessments and appointment registration services. After diagnosis and treatment are completed at the clinic, the offline physician resumes online communication with the patient, maintaining continuous follow-up until full recovery.

Chunyu Doctor aims to help users not only save time wasted on travel and queuing but also alleviate anxiety through communication with doctors, by offering simple triage and appointment registration services via its “Private Doctor” feature. In addition to triage and appointment scheduling, Chunyu’s “Private Doctor” also maintains users’ electronic health records. Initially, the “Private Doctor” service was available only for the enterprise market, with a consumer-oriented version launched in late June.

Ping An Good Doctor: Launches “Health Card” to Enable Daily Family Health Management

Ping An Good Doctor has launched the “Ping An Good Doctor Health Card,” a one-stop health management package that integrates four core services: health check-ups, genetic testing, family doctor services, and appointments with renowned specialists. After completing the health check-up and genetic testing, cardholders can also access Ping An Good Doctor’s

Access one-on-one online consultations with your designated private family doctor through the app. The private family doctor will interpret medical examination reports, assist in scheduling appointments with renowned specialists across China for complex conditions, conduct regular follow-ups for chronic diseases to monitor their progression, and provide daily health management services, including personalized dietary recommendations and scientific exercise advice.

Ask a Doctor Quickly: A Private Doctor Module Added After Upgrade to Manage Users' Health Issues

The upgraded "Quick Ask a Doctor" platform has added a private physician subscription module. Users can sign up for a private physician by paying the corresponding fee. The private physician will answer health-related questions at any time and help users manage their health concerns. According to official information from "Quick Ask a Doctor," the establishment of this private physician subscription module primarily aims to enhance interaction between patients and doctors, maintain electronic medical records, provide dedicated reception and treatment, and offer medication guidance. After subscribing to a private physician, users can consult online or via telephone, and the doctor will proactively follow up on medication usage. Seamless online responses, unlimited telephone consultations, proactive medication follow-ups, and assisting patients in establishing electronic medical records all fall within the scope of the subscribed physician's responsibilities. Additionally, when choosing a physician to subscribe to, users can view information such as the doctor’s areas of expertise, number of subscribers, and satisfaction ratings, thereby deciding whether to proceed with the subscription.

The internet has permeated every aspect of people’s work and daily lives. It is projected that by 2020, broadband networks in China will basically cover all administrative villages, thereby bridging the “last mile” of network infrastructure. This implies that the mobile healthcare industry will see further popularization and development, actively aggregating various resources and optimizing resource allocation through internet-based business models, with the potential to form an “Internet+” health industry cluster.

As one of the key stakeholders in the internet healthcare industry, physicians play a pivotal role in shaping its trajectory. The rise of mobile private physician services not only enables the delivery of more personalized care directly to patients but also helps physicians build their personal brands and provide higher-quality, specialized services. This win-win, chain-linked development model fosters a healthcare service system that fully integrates personalization, precision, and prevention. Thus, the inherently human-centric nature of private physician services is poised to better connect individuals with health services and lead the emerging trends in healthcare delivery.

This article was submitted to VCBeat by the author, Qiu Xue, who is currently a freelancer specializing in public opinion analysis and copy editing. Contact information: Phone: 13678189178; Email: moutingkun@sina.cn