Care-Renal Nephrology Doctors Group Launches First Hospital Collaboration in Beijing

On September 16, CareRay Nephrology Physician Group (hereinafter referred to as “CareRay”) and the Liulitun Community Health Service Center of Chaoyang District, Beijing (Beijing Urban Construction Geriatric Hospital) (hereinafter referred to as “Liulitun Community Health Service Center”) held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony. According to the agreement, both parties will engage in in-depth collaboration in the operational management of nephrology and hemodialysis departments.



Liu Yunjie, Director of the Liulitun Community Health Service Center, along with other relevant hospital leaders; Wang Shixiang, Wang Yuzhu, Liu Wenjun, Xu Chen, Wang Kai, and other expert representatives from CareRay Nephrology Physician Group; as well as Lin Hai, Chairman, and Song Bingzheng, General Manager, all attended the signing ceremony. CareRay Nephrology Physician Group specializes in the hemodialysis market within nephrology. Most of its experts, in addition to managing large-scale dialysis centers at their respective public tertiary hospitals, have long been involved in the preparation and daily operations of numerous private and foreign-funded dialysis centers. Furthermore, CareRay employs hospital operation and management experts from Taiwan, as well as senior executives with many years of experience in operating nephrology hospitals on the Chinese mainland.

The Liulitun Community Health Service Center is a non-profit, secondary-level general hospital. Its hemodialysis department currently has over a dozen beds and sets of equipment, serving more than 30 regular dialysis patients. Following its collaboration with CareRay, the center will see improvements in departmental space, the number of beds and equipment, patient volume, and overall patient service experience. First, the number of regular patients will double from the current baseline. Second, through scientific design, planning, and expansion, the hemodialysis department will be scaled up to accommodate 200 dialysis patients, reaching the capacity of a large-scale dialysis center.

According to Lin Hai, Chairman of Kairui, this cooperation agreement marks the first step in Kairui’s implementation of its on-the-ground operations. The Liulitun Community Health Service Center is poised to become a benchmark flagship community hospital in Beijing. In Beijing, Kairui has acquired two other hospitals through controlling or equity stakes: a primary-care hospital and a secondary-level traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospital, both scheduled to open by the end of 2015. Moving forward, Kairui will rapidly acquire multiple primary- and secondary-level hospitals across China, transforming them into specialized nephrology hospitals and large-scale hemodialysis centers. Additionally, Kairui will establish partnerships with more hospitals through various models, including technology transfer, management expertise sharing, and equity swaps, thereby forming a national nephrology dialysis consortium.

VCBeat has learned that CareRay aims to be the first in Beijing to realize the goal of “bringing hemodialysis into communities, with tertiary-level medical services right at your doorstep.” The hemodialysis department established through the collaboration between CareRay and the Liulitun Community Health Service Center will serve as a demonstration unit for “community-based hemodialysis” in Beijing and across China, exploring and implementing models for community hospitals to launch hemodialysis programs. Previously, most hemodialysis centers in Beijing were located in public hospitals at the secondary level or above, which were already overcrowded and unable to meet patients’ desire for accessible, nearby treatment. The co-construction and cooperation project on hemodialysis between CareRay Physician Group and the Liulitun Community Health Service Center truly brings professional and convenient care closer to the public. This model enables more nephrology experts to engage at the grassroots and community levels, allowing top-tier medical specialists to benefit a broader population and create greater social value.

Lin Hai stated that after the Liulitun Community Health Service Center, most of the hospitals partnered with Kairui were acquired. “The first hospital, Liulitun Community Health Service Center, was somewhat unique. First, it served as a pilot cooperation project for Beijing’s initiative to decentralize dialysis services into communities; second, it provided an early showcase ahead of the year-end openings of our other hospitals.”

Lin Hai also revealed that CareRay’s current financing plan involves equity investment from several institutional investors. “The investors and CareRay will also establish a special-purpose fund for hospital acquisitions to rapidly acquire hospitals across China. The negotiations are currently in their final stages.”