VB Salon Chengdu Series Report — Yu Le: The Way of Medical Services

Guest Introduction: Yu Le, CEO of Tiantian Care
Graduated from the French National Institute of Applied Sciences in Electronics and Information Engineering, with a specialization in IT Finance. Previously worked at Huarong Asset Management Co., Ltd. and the Belgian company DJALOG, possessing extensive experience in both the financial and IT sectors. "Tiantian Peihu" is an internet-based caregiving platform dedicated to establishing service excellence within the healthcare industry.

Topic Sharing:
The Path of Medical Services: The word “path” may seem weighty; what follows is primarily a sharing of our company’s experiences. First, I would like to discuss the field of patient escort services. This sector is relatively peripheral within the healthcare industry and does not demand exceptionally high service quality standards. However, due to its extensive direct contact with patients, it has become a crucial component of the healthcare ecosystem. In the current era, characterized by the widespread adoption of mobile internet, Tiantian Peihu (Daily Escort) operates as an internet-based patient escort platform.

Pain Points in Caregiving: Severe Population Aging + High Work Pressure and Fast Pace Among Family Members
Let us examine these statistics: the annual demand for private caregiving services in China is approximately 45 million people, yet fewer than 5% actually receive such services. With increasing life pressures and an accelerating pace of work, individuals often lack the time to provide care when family members require it. This leads to disruptions in family and daily routines, severely impacting everyday life.

The underlying reasons are as follows:On one hand, China's one-child policy has accelerated the pace of population aging; on the other hand, wages for caregiving workers have also risen.: This implies that at some point in the future, a significant portion of the population in China will have a demand for family caregiving services, while care providers also intend to generate profit through such services. However, the matching between these two groups and the completion of payments have always been persistent bottlenecks, leading to a substantial market gap. Therefore, we aim to contemplate and explore solutions to address this issue.

Current State of Caregiving: Low-Quality Caregivers + Limited Customer Choices + Inadequate Safeguards
Based on our team’s research, the current patient escort industry is plagued by three prevalent issues. The first is the lack of standardized norms. Historically, there has been no statutory national standard for patient escort services, leading to unresolved matters regarding risk management and insurance liability. Currently, occupational competency assessments are generally conducted by health bureaus; however, this approach has not yielded satisfactory results, as many assessments remain purely documentary and lack practical operational value.

Another reason is that this group, being an external labor force, often exhibits several weaknesses: first, their overall quality is relatively low, with lower educational attainment; additionally, many caregivers are older and more difficult to manage, making it challenging to implement many intended regulations. This has resulted in difficulties in ensuring the quality of the caregiving industry.

From another perspective, users lack the ability to independently evaluate and select caregivers who best suit their needs. Due to the limited number of professional caregiving staff and the fact that hospitals capture a significant share of the profits from companion care companies, these companies are unable to disclose detailed information about their employees for client selection. As a result, clients often have no choice but to passively accept the assigned caregivers.

Third, there is a lack of adequate safeguards. Significant issues arise in the aftermath of nursing risks and incidents, as insurance companies do not offer specialized nursing liability insurance, resulting in the absence of a mechanism to protect the rights and interests of both parties.

The Trilogy of Daily Caregiving: Caregiver Screening and Training, International Service System, and Pre- and Post-Event Risk Control
In response to the aforementioned issues, we have proposed our own solutions, which led to the establishment of Tiantian Caregiving.

The first issue we aim to address is the shortage of caregiving personnel. Initially, we will establish a platform to aggregate caregiving resources, primarily drawn from the elderly care market, as the talent pool from other industries is quite limited. Subsequently, we will verify service eligibility through a rigorous screening process comprising three components: a comprehensive health examination, a psychological assessment, and a professional competency exam. This approach ensures that our retained caregiving team demonstrates greater compassion, enthusiasm, and professional expertise.

Going forward, we will enhance the professional competencies of our daily care attendants through targeted training. More importantly, we aim to instill in our staff a service philosophy centered on empathy and perspective-taking, inspiring them to devote themselves wholeheartedly to their careers. I believe that through their dedicated efforts, the nursing industry will gradually gain broader public recognition.

The second aspect involves introducing international systems to build our model, primarily in the healthcare sector, by leveraging the robust frameworks of Japan and the United States to enhance our service quality.

The third aspect is risk management, where we primarily focus on pre-incident and post-incident controls. First, we assess customers’ detailed health information to determine whether they meet our care eligibility criteria. Next, we implement refined management practices, leveraging internet and IT-enabled intelligent solutions to mitigate care-related risks. Finally, in the event of an incident, we strengthen our post-incident measures by utilizing insurance or funds to ensure care coverage and provide compensation to affected users.

Daily Companion: The Uber Care Model
Tiantian Caregiving is an Uber-style care solution that operates on an order-matching model. Users place orders online, and we promptly assign them to available caregivers, who then respond with services. We convey professionalism and dedication to all parties involved, gradually earning public recognition for the caregiving profession. This will attract more individuals to join the industry, ultimately addressing its workforce shortages.

The industry model relies on a commission-based structure, which yields relatively thin margins. We primarily leverage technological solutions to assist caregivers in managing workflows, while simultaneously utilizing user health big data to provide value-added services.

Q&A Highlights:
Question 1: I would like to ask, regarding the insufficient service level and inadequate staffing you just mentioned, how can these two deficiencies be addressed?
Yu Le: On one hand, as compensation increases, nursing staff will pay greater attention to the financial benefits in this field. We will also establish mechanisms to attract talent, enhance public understanding of the industry, and help nursing professionals gradually embrace it. Through these efforts, we believe that participation in caregiving services will steadily grow. Improving professional competence is a matter of time; as individuals accumulate experience and integrate it with nursing knowledge, service quality will be enhanced.

Question 2: I have two questions. First, what stage has been reached? Second, what challenges have you encountered in the process?
Yu Le: Our project is currently in a relatively early stage, operating exclusively in Chengdu, and we are deepening our services targeted at the home care sector. Regarding the second question, the primary challenge we face initially is an insufficiently profound understanding of the industry. Consequently, we must continuously explore business models and experiment to uncover the fundamental nature of this industry, thereby developing solutions based on these core insights.

Question 3: The Uber model is essentially the sharing economy, leveraging fragmented time. However, there are significant differences between caregivers and drivers, involving multiple stakeholders. Furthermore, this model entails high risks; providing care to patients inherently carries service-related risks. Have you considered these aspects?
Yu Le: What you just mentioned pertains to the barriers within the healthcare sector. Hospitals already have such structures in place, employing caregivers from professional agencies as well as non-certified nursing staff. However, these providers are often reluctant to offer in-home care services. In contrast, we can leverage trained caregivers to deliver home-based services. Hospital settings are less suitable for our model; therefore, we intend to focus exclusively on home care. The market size for this segment is approximately four times that of the hospital-based care market.

The second question concerns risk management. There is nothing overly sophisticated in this regard, nor have we devised any elaborate strategies. Our approach is straightforward: risk control comprises pre-incident and post-incident measures. Prior to an incident, we must thoroughly understand the patient’s condition and standardize the practices of caregiving staff to minimize the likelihood of adverse events. Should an incident occur, we will provide risk compensation through insurance or other relevant institutions.

Question 4: Regarding the evaluation criteria you just mentioned, I work in a hospital setting, where there are currently no specific standards in place. What is your perspective on this? Secondly, concerning the learning aspect you mentioned earlier, were you referring to the training and education of nursing assistants?
Yu Le: This is primarily an internal management process. Currently, there are no established standards, which presents a valuable opportunity for us to develop advanced benchmarks. This will create room for growth and serve as our core competitive advantage in the future. We have the chance to build this now. The second aspect concerns implementation, which is also an internal management issue. It requires strict guidelines for caregiver conduct, clearly defining permissible and prohibited actions, along with protocols for addressing issues, disciplinary measures, and incentives for high-quality service. These elements align with practices adopted by many other companies.

Question 5: How should medical issues arising during caregiving be handled? This also involves psychological, exercise, and nutritional aspects; how should these issues be addressed?
Yu Le: If medical issues arise during the caregiving process, we will recommend immediate transfer to a hospital. For matters related to psychology, exercise, and nutrition, we will introduce value-added services, which can also be provided by suitable service providers.

Question 6: How many cases are handled per month currently? How should big data be leveraged? Its potential to provide clinical guidance is what makes it compelling.
Yu Le: Big data involves the detailed acquisition of specifics, with analysis serving as a subsequent step. Our principle is to acquire more data while ensuring service quality. As for the current status, this is confidential business information; it may amount to several hundred per month, not yet reaching a thousand, which is acceptable.

Question 7: Regarding the concept of daily patient care attendants, it actually covers a broad scope. For patients, there may be a need for refined services. Currently, 24-hour attendant care is being promoted for postoperative patients. Are there attendant services available for same-day surgeries or following day-case surgeries?
Yu Le: This is the current development direction. Caregivers are currently categorized by case type, and the specialization of caregivers in niche fields you mentioned is definitely a trend. The industry still faces rigid demand, and we aim to further segment it to deliver better service concepts.

Question 8: I would like to inquire about your Uber-like model. Uber typically responds within minutes; what is your service response time? Is the order allocation based on a first-come, first-served (“grabbing”) mechanism? Do you deploy staff around the caregivers?
Yu Le: In hospitals, it takes just a few minutes, as we dispatch the nearest available caregiver. Response times are longer for home-based care. Currently, caregivers are not accustomed to using smartphones, so they generally do not compete for orders via an app. Instead, we coordinate with them by phone—a simple call suffices.

Question 9: There are now many companies offering patient escort and medical accompaniment services. What distinguishes our company from them?
Yu Le: The biggest difference is that we approach this endeavor with a grounded and steadfast mindset. Many companies today move on to other ventures before fully perfecting their current ones, whereas our immediate priority is to strive for excellence in what we do.

Question 10: I have previously followed many types of caregiving companies. Before the meeting, I was also discussing with Mr. Yu Le that you currently offer several courses, which, after training, may help cultivate relatively competent caregivers. How many courses do you currently offer?
Yu Le:Currently, there are three main modules: the first focuses on professional expertise, the second on etiquette, and the third on practical skills. The practical component consists of internships and training on our service standards, enabling participants to enter the market with proficiency.