Ruijing Diabetes Hospital Files IPO Prospectus, Launches Large-Scale Free Smart Glucometer Initiative
Jun 18, 2015 08:00
CST Updated
08:00
The impact of internet-based healthcare on traditional hospitals has put significant pressure on Zhuo Guojin, Chairman of Ruijing Hospital. Offering free blood glucose meters and test strips marks Ruijing Hospital’s first step in its strategic deployment of internet-based healthcare services.
On June 7, Beijing Ruijing Hospital Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ruijing Hospital) announced that it would partner with “Kangxun 360” to provide 20,000 smart blood glucose meters and 4 million test strips free of charge to diabetic patients in seven cities across China.
Ruijing Hospital and “Kangxun 360” have created a new model based on the internet and mobile health through the effective integration of the Internet of Things, mobile internet, health cloud, and medical institutions. Zhuo Guojin stated that the purpose of this collaboration is to explore a three-tier management model for diabetes as a chronic disease, truly achieving scientific, standardized, and intelligent management of diabetes, so that diabetic patients can receive professional care.
Initially, Zhuo Guojin did not have a systematic plan for laying out internet healthcare. On one hand, the hospital itself lacked talent in the field of internet healthcare; on the other hand, developing internet healthcare is a capital-intensive endeavor, requiring significant investment with an uncertain timeline for breaking even. However, a professional internet healthcare platform holds substantial significance for diabetic patients. Zhuo Guojin decided to set aside various difficulties and take action.
Dr. Lü Liang, President of Beijing Ruijing Diabetes Hospital, told VCBeat that hospitalized diabetes patients typically measure their blood glucose seven times a day—before and after breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as before bedtime—with an additional measurement sometimes taken in the early hours of the morning. However, such frequent monitoring is difficult for patients to maintain at home. On one hand, the discomfort associated with fingerstick testing can lead to patient aversion; on the other hand, the cost of test strips for glucometers is relatively high.
“Ruijing has a vision to make blood glucose test strips free of charge. Currently, imported test strips on the market generally cost 4–5 yuan per strip, while domestically produced ones typically cost around 2 yuan. Blood glucose monitoring imposes a financial burden on patients; testing seven times a day incurs prohibitively high costs. Providing test strips free of charge can alleviate patients’ economic pressure during monitoring, thereby enhancing their awareness and adherence to self-monitoring of blood glucose.” Lv Liang believes that since self-monitoring of blood glucose by diabetic patients at home only needs to provide regular, standardized data, it suffices for a patient to perform paired pre- and post-prandial blood glucose tests once for breakfast and once for lunch each week. Therefore, providing 200 test strips per year is sufficient.
Initially, the directors of the chain hospitals under Ruijing Hospital Management Company did not accept the offer of providing free blood glucose meters and test strips. Sales of test strips constituted a significant portion of Ruijing Hospital’s revenue, and offering them for free would inevitably lead to a substantial decline in the hospital’s turnover. Director Lv Liang presented a cost analysis to VCBeat: generally, each hospital generated approximately RMB 3,000 per day from test strip sales, amounting to RMB 90,000 per month and RMB 1.08 million annually.
Zhuo Guojin overrode all objections, launching the initiative to provide blood glucose meters and test strips free of charge.
On May 6 this year, during Mother’s Day, Tencent launched the “Teng Ai Tang Daifu Glucometer: Free Test Strips” campaign. Ruijing Hospital purchased 10,000 glucometers. Tencent developed a data management platform for Ruijing Hospital, enabling real-time transmission of home blood glucose monitoring data from patients using the hospital-distributed glucometers to their attending physicians at Ruijing Hospital. Each physician can access their patients’ data by logging into their individual accounts.
Patients with diabetes primarily manage their condition outside of hospital settings. According to Dr. Wang Anling, Medical Director at Ruijing Hospital and holder of a medical doctorate from Peking University, patients have only six hours per year for face-to-face consultations with physicians, leaving the remaining 8,760 hours to be managed independently. During this period, accurately transmitting blood glucose monitoring results to physicians can provide supervision and reminders that support patients’ self-management. A blood glucose meter capable of remote data transmission has thus become a key tool linking physicians and patients.
According to Zhuo Guojin’s plan, Ruijing Hospital will distribute 100,000 blood glucose meters by June next year, with each meter coming standard with 200 test strips.
The most significant advantage of data transmitted directly from blood glucose meters is its real-time availability and precision. This helps eliminate the information asymmetry between physicians and patients caused by inadequate self-management at home, thereby enabling physicians to provide more accurate one-on-one analysis and personalized guidance. Since the blood glucose meters are provided exclusively to patients of Ruijing Hospital, physicians can offer recommendations and guidance that are best tailored to each patient’s specific condition.
Zhuo Guojin told VCBeat that the workload of doctors at Ruijing Hospital was not saturated. Through the management platform provided by Tencent, doctors and patients could communicate in real time, and relevant data could be utilized for scientific research projects, thereby significantly improving the work efficiency of doctors.
As a hardware device, the blood glucose meter serves merely as an entry point for Ruijing Hospital into the internet healthcare sector, with the company’s future focus shifting primarily to backend management. Zhuo Guojin stated, “Diabetes management should be supported by a backend system integrated with collaborative care, offering professional services rather than simple, lightweight consultations. Leveraging our offline hospital resources, we can deliver more specialized diabetes patient management.”
On June 7, Beijing Ruijing Hospital Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ruijing Hospital) announced that it would partner with “Kangxun 360” to provide 20,000 smart blood glucose meters and 4 million test strips free of charge to diabetic patients in seven cities across China.
(Zhuo Guojin, Chairman of Ruijing Hospital)
Ruijing Hospital and “Kangxun 360” have created a new model based on the internet and mobile health through the effective integration of the Internet of Things, mobile internet, health cloud, and medical institutions. Zhuo Guojin stated that the purpose of this collaboration is to explore a three-tier management model for diabetes as a chronic disease, truly achieving scientific, standardized, and intelligent management of diabetes, so that diabetic patients can receive professional care.
Initially, Zhuo Guojin did not have a systematic plan for laying out internet healthcare. On one hand, the hospital itself lacked talent in the field of internet healthcare; on the other hand, developing internet healthcare is a capital-intensive endeavor, requiring significant investment with an uncertain timeline for breaking even. However, a professional internet healthcare platform holds substantial significance for diabetic patients. Zhuo Guojin decided to set aside various difficulties and take action.
Dr. Lü Liang, President of Beijing Ruijing Diabetes Hospital, told VCBeat that hospitalized diabetes patients typically measure their blood glucose seven times a day—before and after breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as before bedtime—with an additional measurement sometimes taken in the early hours of the morning. However, such frequent monitoring is difficult for patients to maintain at home. On one hand, the discomfort associated with fingerstick testing can lead to patient aversion; on the other hand, the cost of test strips for glucometers is relatively high.
“Ruijing has a vision to make blood glucose test strips free of charge. Currently, imported test strips on the market generally cost 4–5 yuan per strip, while domestically produced ones typically cost around 2 yuan. Blood glucose monitoring imposes a financial burden on patients; testing seven times a day incurs prohibitively high costs. Providing test strips free of charge can alleviate patients’ economic pressure during monitoring, thereby enhancing their awareness and adherence to self-monitoring of blood glucose.” Lv Liang believes that since self-monitoring of blood glucose by diabetic patients at home only needs to provide regular, standardized data, it suffices for a patient to perform paired pre- and post-prandial blood glucose tests once for breakfast and once for lunch each week. Therefore, providing 200 test strips per year is sufficient.
Initially, the directors of the chain hospitals under Ruijing Hospital Management Company did not accept the offer of providing free blood glucose meters and test strips. Sales of test strips constituted a significant portion of Ruijing Hospital’s revenue, and offering them for free would inevitably lead to a substantial decline in the hospital’s turnover. Director Lv Liang presented a cost analysis to VCBeat: generally, each hospital generated approximately RMB 3,000 per day from test strip sales, amounting to RMB 90,000 per month and RMB 1.08 million annually.
Zhuo Guojin overrode all objections, launching the initiative to provide blood glucose meters and test strips free of charge.
On May 6 this year, during Mother’s Day, Tencent launched the “Teng Ai Tang Daifu Glucometer: Free Test Strips” campaign. Ruijing Hospital purchased 10,000 glucometers. Tencent developed a data management platform for Ruijing Hospital, enabling real-time transmission of home blood glucose monitoring data from patients using the hospital-distributed glucometers to their attending physicians at Ruijing Hospital. Each physician can access their patients’ data by logging into their individual accounts.
Patients with diabetes primarily manage their condition outside of hospital settings. According to Dr. Wang Anling, Medical Director at Ruijing Hospital and holder of a medical doctorate from Peking University, patients have only six hours per year for face-to-face consultations with physicians, leaving the remaining 8,760 hours to be managed independently. During this period, accurately transmitting blood glucose monitoring results to physicians can provide supervision and reminders that support patients’ self-management. A blood glucose meter capable of remote data transmission has thus become a key tool linking physicians and patients.
According to Zhuo Guojin’s plan, Ruijing Hospital will distribute 100,000 blood glucose meters by June next year, with each meter coming standard with 200 test strips.
The most significant advantage of data transmitted directly from blood glucose meters is its real-time availability and precision. This helps eliminate the information asymmetry between physicians and patients caused by inadequate self-management at home, thereby enabling physicians to provide more accurate one-on-one analysis and personalized guidance. Since the blood glucose meters are provided exclusively to patients of Ruijing Hospital, physicians can offer recommendations and guidance that are best tailored to each patient’s specific condition.
Zhuo Guojin told VCBeat that the workload of doctors at Ruijing Hospital was not saturated. Through the management platform provided by Tencent, doctors and patients could communicate in real time, and relevant data could be utilized for scientific research projects, thereby significantly improving the work efficiency of doctors.
As a hardware device, the blood glucose meter serves merely as an entry point for Ruijing Hospital into the internet healthcare sector, with the company’s future focus shifting primarily to backend management. Zhuo Guojin stated, “Diabetes management should be supported by a backend system integrated with collaborative care, offering professional services rather than simple, lightweight consultations. Leveraging our offline hospital resources, we can deliver more specialized diabetes patient management.”