YuGuo Doctor: Pioneering Internet-Based Premium Healthcare Services

After a decade of practicing medicine, Ma Yukun chose to step outside the “ivory tower” and founded Yuguo.com (hereinafter referred to as “Yuguo”), a high-end medical service platform, thereby joining the ranks of mobile health entrepreneurs.

Ma Yukun’s parents did not support her decision to resign from her position as a physician to start a business. “At that time, I was practicing at a well-known Grade 3A hospital with an excellent department. Both of my parents worked in the healthcare sector, and they opposed my leaving to pursue entrepreneurship,” Ma Yukun said. For two years, she ran her startup on a part-time basis. Over time, her parents realized that her ability to sustain herself far exceeded their expectations and acknowledged that her venture had the potential to improve many people’s lives. Consequently, they gave their blessing for her to devote herself fully to her entrepreneurial endeavor.

However, for Ma Yukun, giving up being a doctor was not easy.

Ma Yukun

Entrepreneurship Can Help More Patients

Ma Yukun was born into a family of medical professionals. Both her maternal grandparents graduated from Peking University Health Science Center, her mother is a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, and her father works in the Department of Medical Engineering. From an early age, Ma Yukun was immersed in a medical environment—reading medical textbooks, accompanying her parents on their shifts, and even playing games where she pretended to be either a patient or a doctor. “Back then, I even found the smell of disinfectant in hospitals endearing,” said Ma Yukun.

In the year she took the national college entrance examination, Ma Yukun chose to pursue medicine without hesitation, listing only medical-related majors as her first, second, and third preferences. “I was absolutely determined to become a doctor.” After graduation, she joined the Department of Endocrinology at Beijing Tiantan Hospital, where she has practiced for ten years.

For Ma Yukun, being a doctor is a meaningful endeavor. “My home is only a 15-minute walk from the hospital, but during my six months as a resident physician, I rarely went home.” At that time, Ma Yukun gave up shopping and enjoying life with friends, instead working overnight shifts at the hospital, all to gain more experience and advance his medical skills.

The fundamental reason that ultimately prompted Ma Yukun to resign from her position as a physician and embark on entrepreneurship was the ability to help more patients. She stated, “I have given it serious thought: as a doctor, I could treat and influence at most two to three thousand people in my lifetime. However, what I am doing now can help far more people. Over the past two years, Yuguowang, a high-end medical services community, has attracted nearly 100,000 active users, enabling members to meet their needs for premium medical services.”

The Birth of a Child Becomes an Entrepreneurial Opportunity

In Ma Yukun’s view, “entrepreneurship should be driven by intuition, starting from one’s immediate surroundings. Everything stems from life; as long as what you do can help others, just go for it.” The birth of her child was ultimately the catalyst that solidified her decision to start a business.

In February 2011, Ma Yukun became a mother. Children are inevitably prone to illness, which necessitates hospital visits. “While I can improve the ‘software’ aspects of care at public hospitals—such as securing consultations with department heads and reducing wait times—I cannot change the ‘hardware’ limitations, such as multi-patient inpatient wards or restrictions on accompanying caregivers,” Ma Yukun told VCBeat. Many middle- and high-income individuals choose private hospitals to enjoy better facilities and services; however, since ordinary basic medical insurance is not accepted at these institutions, selecting appropriate commercial health insurance has become a significant challenge for this demographic.

Ma Yukun developed an early awareness of insurance, beginning to purchase policies for herself at the age of 18. The first gift she gave her husband was also an insurance policy. Ma Yukun explained that while searching for suitable commercial insurance for her child, she found that all available information came from brokers, insurance company agents, or advisory websites. “There has never been a systematic platform that tells me which users have purchased specific policies, what difficulties others encountered when using these insurance products, or what options were chosen by individuals with similar financial circumstances or personal situations—and which brokers are reputable.”

This experience inspired Ma Yukun to conceive the idea of establishing a high-end medical service community. To this end, he conducted extensive market research. Over six months, Ma visited more than 40 individuals, including hospital directors, officials from the Health Bureau, leaders of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), and employees of insurance companies.

On February 4, 2012, Ma Yukun began building the website. Five days later, Yuguowang officially went live. “It took me five days to set up the site, and for the next two years, I worked on it part-time. I negotiated with all partner institutions after my night shifts; although it was exhausting and demanding, I found great joy in it,” said Ma Yukun. He explained that his motivation for founding the website was to help more mothers find answers directly on the forum when they seek care at high-end private hospitals or encounter issues with commercial insurance.

Market Potential of High-End Medical Services

From the perspective of China’s broader economic trends, the high-income population is steadily growing, driving inelastic demand for more comfortable and convenient medical resources, while the financial system, including insurance, continues to improve. This creates a favorable environment for the rise and expansion of the Yuguo platform. In terms of location, Beijing, where Yuguo was founded, is a hub for both high-income individuals and premium medical resources. Successfully establishing a strong presence in the Beijing market will undoubtedly lay the foundation for Yuguo’s nationwide expansion across China.

Data shows that in 2012, private hospitals generated RMB 141.1 billion in medical service revenue, accounting for only 8.5% of the total revenue of all medical institutions at the time. Government authorities set a target to raise the share of private hospitals to 20% by 2015. Ma Yukun stated that the current market size of private hospitals may have already reached RMB 300–500 billion.

In China, the user base for high-end medical insurance is concentrated in private hospitals. Clients of private hospitals seek “personalized” services and demonstrate a strong willingness to pay. Data indicates that by 2015, the number of high-net-worth individuals with household assets exceeding RMB 10 million would reach one million. Among this group, high-income households spend between RMB 50,000 and RMB 150,000 annually on family healthcare or commercial insurance. These customers tend to select top-tier hospitals and physicians and prioritize effective medical record management services. Yuguo’s products provide precisely the services they need: comprehensive and authentic information on high-end private hospitals, convenient medical record retention, genuine patient reviews, portable access to insurance networks, and a rich array of insurance-related benefits.

Streamlining Healthcare Services and Health Insurance

Ma Yukun said, “When the internet enters a particular industry, it is invariably professionals within that industry who take the lead, with others following suit. It is always the 20% of specialized talent that shapes the lives of the remaining 80%. I represent the specialized field of backend healthcare payment.”

In terms of business model, Yuguang closely resembles Oscar, currently the most prominent online health insurer in the United States. Both share the common goal of thoroughly simplifying healthcare services and health insurance, enabling users to experience convenient medical consultation and reimbursement payment processes. The difference lies in that Yuguang initially targets high-end individuals who are health-conscious, prioritize the quality and privacy of medical services, are price-insensitive, or possess premium health insurance coverage.

In June 2015, the “Yuguo Doctor” mobile app, positioned as a “high-end private healthcare platform,” was officially launched. Ma Yukun stated, “The market needs segmentation. By diverting high-income individuals from public hospitals and providing them with high-quality, comfortable, and convenient medical services tailored to their needs, we not only meet their demands but also facilitate a more rational allocation of public medical resources. I believe this is a highly meaningful endeavor.”

On the Yiguo Doctor platform, patients can schedule appointments with physicians based on their insurance plans, geographic location, preferred time slots, and medical specialties. Prior to the visit, an assistant provides reminders to prevent patients from missing their appointments. Patients are not required to carry physical medical records; they can simply access the “Medical Record Archive” feature to retrieve previous records or upload the latest ones. Insurance card usage status and coverage details can be checked online at any time before the visit. After the consultation, patients can rate and review their physicians, providing valuable references for other patients.

“After a month of promotion, our app has now garnered nearly 90,000 downloads. This figure has exceeded my expectations,” Ma Yukun told VCBeat from Yuguo’s office in Wangjing SOHO, adding that Yuguo is on the verge of closing its Series A financing round.

Currently, Yuguo’s partner institutions cover both Beijing and Shanghai. Medical partners include well-known high-end private hospitals such as United Family Healthcare, Mingde Hospital, Amcare, Ai Yu Hua, Formosa Hospital, Mary Maternity and Infant Hospital, New Century Children’s Hospital, Mayflower Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Beijing Hong Kong-Macau International Clinic, and Arrail Dental. At these partner institutions, Yuguo members can enjoy additional discounts or complimentary gifts when seeking medical care. Should any difficult issues arise during treatment, they can be promptly and properly resolved through Yuguo’s customer service team.

Yuguo has partnered with 12 commercial insurance providers, offering more than 80 insurance plans. Additionally, Yuguo employs its own certified insurance brokers to deliver high-quality, price-differentiated services for similar products. The renewal rate for commercial medical insurance policies purchased through Yuguo exceeds 90%, with an average of 30–50 new and renewing customers per month.

Furthermore, Yuguo will provide big data support to the industry: The Yuguo Doctor APP will monitor users’ actual usage behaviors to offer data support and analytics for hospitals, physicians, and high-end medical insurance brokers. This will facilitate real-time updates to the service content of medical services and insurance products, enabling the on-demand launch of medical products that meet user needs.

“‘Yu’ means to nurture, the result of a mother’s 39-week pregnancy; ‘Guo’ means child and hope. It is also a homophone for my husband’s and my child’s surname. That is how the name ‘Yuguo’ came about.” For Ma Yukun, Yuguo is her second child. On the journey ahead, she will accompany both of her children as they grow up together.