Cardiovascular Doctors Group Files Prospectus for IPO as a Specialty Referral Platform

Since the establishment of Dr. Zhang Qiang’s Doctor Group, an increasing number of “doctor groups” have emerged, with the Cardiovascular Doctor Group being one of them.

Recently, Li Hao, founder of the Cardiovascular Physicians Group, has been intensively coordinating with various medical teams to finalize pre-launch details. The Cardiovascular Physicians Group has established collaborations with the cardiology departments of Beijing Fuwai Hospital, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, and Peking University People’s Hospital. Patients can schedule appointments with specialists from these departments via the WeChat official account “Yilian Zongheng Medical Assistant.”

Li Hao is a seasoned internet expert with over 12 years of experience in internet operations. He has founded portal websites in multiple vertical sectors, including health-focused portals. In March 2015, Li Hao established Beijing Yilian Zongheng Technology Co., Ltd. and launched the Cardiologist Group.

The Cardiovascular Physicians Group has three core positioning pillars: first, serving as a healthcare navigation assistant for patients; second, acting as an assistant and agent for physicians; and third, functioning as a collaborative partner in hospital co-development.



Online Consultation, Offline Visit

The first step in the services provided by the Cardiovascular Physician Group to patients is a free consultation, followed by an initial assessment and interpretation of the patient's condition by professional cardiologists, and then triage recommendations.

“Through patient triage based on clinical conditions, physicians determine the specific diagnosis and recommend specialists accordingly. Patients can then select the most suitable physician for offline medical services by reviewing detailed provider profiles,” Li Hao told VCBeat. He emphasized that clinical diagnosis and treatment must occur in person; therefore, the online activities of the Cardiovascular Physician Group are limited to consultation and triage, with the aim of becoming a specialized platform for guiding cardiovascular care.

Currently, all collaborating physicians on the Cardiovascular Physicians Group platform are employed within the public healthcare system and hold the title of Associate Chief Physician or higher. Patients can submit their personal and clinical information via the “Yilian Zongheng Medical Assistant” WeChat official account. Consultations, image interpretation, and medical care services are all provided by the collaborating physicians. Apart from medical care services, all other services are offered free of charge.

The Cardiovascular Physicians Group has begun providing services for out-of-town patients seeking medical care in Beijing. “Our current core services focus on two areas: outpatient consultations and surgical procedures,” introduced Li Hao.

Patients traveling to Beijing for medical care generally fall into two categories. The first category consists of outpatients, which are further divided into initial consultations and second-opinion confirmations. The Cardiovascular Physician Group assists these patients with navigation and triage through consultations and recommends appropriate physicians to complete outpatient services. The second category comprises patients who have already consulted local hospitals and been advised to undergo surgery but decide to travel to Beijing due to insufficient local medical capabilities. For surgical patients, the Cardiovascular Physician Group provides an end-to-end surgical appointment service, committing to reduce the waiting period for surgery to approximately one to three weeks, thereby minimizing additional expenses for patients. During the treatment period, the group provides accurate itineraries detailing the timing of examinations, surgery, and other surgery-related information. Typically, the waiting time for cardiovascular surgeries at Grade 3A hospitals in Beijing ranges from one to three months.

Physician's Assistant and Agent

“The role of the Cardiovascular Physicians Group is to reduce doctor-patient conflicts,” said Li Hao. He stated that the core issue in doctor-patient conflicts lies in patients’ excessively high expectations coupled with poor healthcare experiences. If patients can fully understand relevant information before seeking medical care, including potential risks and possible scenarios during treatment, and engage more actively in the process, the occurrence of doctor-patient conflicts can be reduced.

After patients select the Cardiovascular Physician Group for appointment services, the group will collect “accurate patient information and decision-support information” to facilitate early clarification of the patient’s condition, design of treatment plans, and efficient conduct of surgical procedures by physicians.

During the consultation process, patients are notified in advance of the required examinations. The results are then compiled and transmitted to the physician prior to the patient’s appointment. This enables efficient communication during the consultation, allowing the physician more time to analyze the condition and provide a detailed explanation to the patient.

Regarding patient data, all data are currently managed by the Cardiovascular Physicians Group. All patient data are accessible to physicians collaborating with the Group. The Cardiovascular Physicians Group will collect and manage all data from pre-visit, during-visit, and post-visit stages, track patients’ disease progression, and establish a patient medical record database.

Nevertheless, Li Hao is currently eager for the Cardiovascular Physician Group to rapidly attract more patient-side users. “The Cardiovascular Physician Group is currently undergoing financing to complete platform development and team building, thereby enabling it to serve a larger patient population. We hope to garner greater attention from investment institutions.” The Cardiovascular Physician Group has already signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the appointment registration service platform “Jiuyi 160,” and will deepen collaboration among patients, physicians, and hospitals in the future. For instance, it will partner with Baidu Health Account and Xunyi Wenyao to integrate patient resources, and collaborate with Apricot Forest (Xingshulin) and Xi’an Yinggu to connect physician and hospital resources.

In addition, the Cardiovascular Physician Group is strategically planning a collaboration with a branded chain of specialized cardiovascular hospitals. The two parties will engage in deep cooperation across consultation centers, diagnosis and treatment centers, imaging diagnostic centers, and rehabilitation centers. Furthermore, the Cardiovascular Physician Group will provide grassroots physicians at the partner hospitals with training programs, expert interactions, and opportunities for advanced study and professional development.