BAT's Move into Healthcare Institutions Is Just the Beginning
VCBeat (ID: vcbeat)
“Jingchu Network reports: On October 30, Jingzhou Central Hospital officially launched the BAT full-process mobile smart hospital platform, marking the first such initiative in Jingzhou to simultaneously go live across the three major mainstream applications—WeChat, Alipay, and Baidu.”
This is the latest news regarding the “BAT Full-Process Mobile Smart Hospital,” marking the seventh medical institution to date to simultaneously launch a mobile smart hospital platform.
The most prominent highlight in the news is “BAT Full-Process Mobile Smart Hospital.” Let’s examine how it is defined.
Based on consolidated information from major platforms, the hospital WeChat Official Accounts (Service Accounts), Alipay Service Windows, and Baidu Direct Numbers supported by the three major application platforms—WeChat, Alipay, and Baidu—constitute the BAT full-process mobile smart hospitals.
As long as the hospital enables this service, patients can search for “XX Hospital” (WeChat Service Account) or scan the hospital’s QR code and follow it on WeChat Official Accounts and Alipay Service Windows to access medical services such as appointment registration, point-of-care payment, queue management for consultations, and viewing test reports.
Taking Jingzhou Central Hospital as an example, let us examine the distinctive features and differences among the three major platforms.
Access the WeChat Service Account to enjoy features such as intelligent triage, appointment registration, queue management with number calling, off-site navigation, departmental consultations, and order management.
Search for “@Jingzhou Central Hospital” on Baidu Mobile to access the Baidu Direct Account, where you can find features similar to those on the WeChat Service Account, as well as additional functions such as health news, medical consultation guides, and Health News reports.
Then, go to the Alipay Service Window. After following the “Jingzhou Central Hospital Service Window,” you can access the same services as those available on the WeChat Official Account.
The above is a brief overview of BAT’s end-to-end mobile smart hospital solution. A key appeal of this smart hospital model is that once a hospital fully adopts it, it effectively captures the entire online traffic gateway.
As previously mentioned, this is currently the seventh hospital to launch the “BAT Full-Process Mobile Smart Hospital.” Looking back further, we find that the earliest adopter was Yichang Central People’s Hospital in Hubei Province, which officially began operations on January 18 of this year, followed by a steady influx of other hospitals joining the platform.
On July 10, the Mobile Smart Hospital of Quanzhou Maternity and Children’s Health Care Hospital · Children’s Hospital was officially launched.
On August 12, Shiyan Taihe Hospital officially launched its three major platforms: WeChat Official Account, Alipay Service Window, and Baidu Direct Connect.
On September 19, Xiangyang No. 1 People's Hospital officially commenced operations.
On September 29, the First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine held the launch ceremony for its “Internet + Hospital” platform.
On October 19, Wuhan General Hospital of the Guangzhou Military Command officially launched the BAT full-process mobile smart hospital.
For the internet giants BAT, which drive these hospitals’ digital transformation, what are their respective entry points into the hospital sector?
Alibaba: Three Core Businesses—Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba Health, and Alipay
On May 27, 2014, Alipay launched the “Future Hospital” initiative. Under this program, offline hospitals opened their interfaces to Alipay, enabling users to remotely register appointments, make real-time payments, and access test reports via the Alipay Wallet’s Service Window on their mobile phones, thereby improving healthcare delivery efficiency.
The services it provides are primarily user-focused, targeting large public hospitals across various regions that have well-established information technology infrastructures. However, according to statistics from the Service Window,Currently, more than 400 medical institutions have been onboarded, with one-third being long-tail institutions such as community hospitals and health checkup centers.
Subsequently, on April 1 this year, Alibaba Health once again launched the Cloud Hospital platform (Yi Die Gu), which is positioned as “an online platform that integrates resources across the entire healthcare system and value chain to provide comprehensive medical services.”
Its business scope covers a wide range of areas, including patients, physicians, diagnostic testing and laboratory services, medical insurance, pharmaceutical supply, and small- to medium-sized healthcare institutions. While attracting primary care institutions, it is also expanding collaborations with secondary and tertiary healthcare providers, thereby establishing a referral platform across tiered medical institutions.
In contrast to Alipay’s “Future Hospital” initiative, YiDieGu adopts a market-oriented approach. It encourages physicians to practice at multiple locations and allows patients to consult with doctors on its platform via the mobile app. After scheduling appointments and completing in-person consultations, third-party testing agencies integrated into the platform provide home sample collection services (e.g., blood draws). Once test reports are uploaded to the cloud hospital system, physicians issue electronic prescriptions, and nearby offline pharmacies deliver medications to patients’ homes by competing for orders through subsidies.
In the same month, Alibaba Cloud joined forces with Donghua Software and Xi’an International Medical Center to create China’s first physical smart “Cloud Hospital”—Xi'an International Medical Center has deployed over 90% of its backend hospital information systems on Alibaba Cloud.
Furthermore, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou has also integrated with the Alibaba Cloud platform during its digital transformation. However, this represents an upgrade of an existing hospital, whereas Xi’an International Medical Center was built from the ground up according to a cloud-based architecture. Once this model is matured, it will be much easier to replicate and scale.
However, an awkward reality revealed by surveys is that interest in “cloud-based” healthcare currently comes mostly from small hospitals and private hospitals, as they have a strong need to attract patients. In contrast, large public hospitals remain somewhat ambivalent about “cloud-based” solutions because they are already sufficiently powerful—they do not lack patients and have little incentive to share data externally. Moreover, given the inherent scarcity of physician resources, offline services are already unable to meet growing demand for medical consultations; just imagine the consequences if these limited resources were shifted to the “cloud.”
These are Alibaba’s “three pillars”: Alibaba Cloud provides hospitals with cloud computing and big data services; Alipay offers medical consultation, appointment registration, payment, and credit services; and AliHealth delivers a data-driven ecosystem service system for hospitals, third-party health institutions, and pharmaceutical products. Together, they activate the “full ecosystem chain” of healthcare services.
In terms of its hospital ecosystem depth, it has also invested in platforms such as Xunyi Wenyao, Sina Aiwen Doctor, Huakang Mobile Healthcare, and U Yi U Yao. Leveraging the institutional information and physician resources inherent to these platforms, they provide Ali Health with services including medical consultations, appointment registration, and pharmaceutical delivery, thereby ensuring a continuous influx of medical resources.
Among the various platforms under Alibaba, Huakang Mobile Health has the largest number of onboarded medical institutions. Its partnerships with the Xunyi Wenyao platform include a small number of Grade I Class A hospitals, with the majority concentrated in Grade III Class A and Grade II Class A hospitals. In contrast, nearly one-third of the medical institutions integrated with Alipay’s “Future Hospital” are long-tail providers, including a small number of private hospitals as well as online appointment registration and lightweight consultation platforms.
Baidu: Most Extensive Range of Self-Developed Products
As is well known, Baidu, leveraging its big data and search technologies, has developed a sense of pride in its self-built platform due to the massive amount of data accumulated over the years. Baidu Health, Thumb Doctor, and Baidu Doctor primarily provide services such as appointment registration and online consultations via both PC and mobile platforms. The Direct Account feature mainly directs online patients and medication purchasers to offline hospitals and pharmacies. Additionally, Baidu Cloud enables consumers to upload all their diagnostic and treatment records from a single hospital, thereby facilitating interoperability of information among different hospitals.
Furthermore, it has also invested in or partnered with two internet healthcare companies, Health Road Medical Network and JiuYi160. In addition to their own platform characteristics, these two platforms primarily provide hospital and physician resources to Baidu’s various platforms.
Among the platforms under Baidu’s ecosystem, Yihu Wang hosts the largest number of medical institutions, exceeding 10,000. However, it also has the most significant long tail of medical institutions, including community hospitals, which is closely related to Health Road’s strategy of penetrating grassroots healthcare since 2012. In contrast, Jiu Yi 160 primarily focuses on Grade A tertiary, tertiary, and secondary hospitals, along with some private medical institutions. Baidu Health does not have the 16,000 hospitals claimed in its promotional materials; according to publicly available data on its platform, it lists fewer than 6,000 medical institutions.
Tencent: Focus on WeChat Smart Hospitals
Its medical resources include, first, the early 2011 initiative where hospital experts launched Weibo accounts for appointment registration, sourced from web pages and the Weibo platform.
Another key focus is the WeChat Smart Hospital. Launched in 2014, the WeChat Smart Hospital platform is built on “Official Accounts + WeChat Pay” and leverages WeChat’s mobile e-commerce gateway to optimize connectivity among doctors, hospitals, patients, and medical devices. The end-to-end workflow includes appointment scheduling and waiting-room reminders via WeChat; in-hospital navigation with efficient guidance between consultation rooms and laboratories; point-of-care payment through WeChat; real-time delivery of electronic reports via WeChat; and post-discharge medication and care reminders.
Furthermore, in terms of investment and collaboration, the key players include Guahaowang (WeDoctor), DXY, Linjia Yisheng, Haodaifu, and Zhuojian Technology (Pocket Hospital). In early 2015, Zhuojian Technology became the third healthcare internet innovator in Tencent’s medical portfolio, following DXY and Guahaowang.
According to available statistics, the medical institutions covered by BAT’s strategic layout number fewer than 60,000, with county-level hospitals accounting for less than 10,000; these figures include duplicate entries and cumulative counts. As of the end of February 2015, data from the Ministry of Health showed that China had a total of 983,000 healthcare institutions, comprising 26,000 hospitals, 918,000 primary healthcare institutions, 35,000 specialized public health institutions, and 3,000 other types of institutions.
According to these statistics, the proportion of medical institutions currently held by BAT has not reached 6%. Excluding primary healthcare facilities such as outpatient clinics, community health centers, and township health centers, the current number of municipal-level hospitals is far from reaching half. However, one point is clear: all major players are casting a wide net, with nearly every major platform operating in approximately 30 provinces and municipalities.
Furthermore, Jiankang Zhilu Medical Network hosts a relatively larger number of primary healthcare institutions compared to other platforms. This is also evident from the county-level mobile health project for chronic disease patients launched in May this year through its partnership with Sanofi, underscoring its strategic intent to penetrate the primary healthcare market.
Therefore, on a national scale, BAT still has a long and arduous journey ahead in reshaping the hospital landscape. In recent public comments, hospital directors from both northern and southern China also highlighted that products such as medical O2O services, medical data collection and analytics, and medical-grade wearable hardware and IoT devices hold significant promise for hospitals.
As for which of the BAT giants will hold the advantage in the future, there is a saying that “the future depends on the present.” Whoever better secures the B-side (medical institutions) will retain patients.