Weekly Highlights of Internet Healthcare: May 11, 2015
As planned, by the end of 2015, Spring Rain Clinics will have established a presence in 50 cities, with the number of clinics reaching 300. Private physician services will be one of Spring Rain’s key business focuses going forward. The Spring Rain Doctor team stated that all contracted physicians are associate chief physicians and chief physicians from Grade 3A hospitals. They have adopted an annual fee model for private physician services, with service cards valid for one year and currently priced at RMB 980 per card. No additional fees are charged for consultations, and partial reimbursement for medications through medical insurance is supported. Prior to Spring Rain’s clinic expansion, DXY had already revealed its plan to open general practice clinics as early as September of the previous year. However, it is understood that their clinics are still undergoing the approval process.
. Collaborating with multiple research institutions to develop applications based on Apple’s ResearchKit platform for collecting and organizing users’ genetic data. Hospitals and other researchers can connect to the ResearchKit platform to rapidly access large volumes of research samples. According to VCBeat, Apple aims to announce new genetics-related applications at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June this year, though Apple has not yet responded to this report.
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, with an initial subscribed capital of RMB 500 million. The Health Industry Fund will primarily make equity investments in enterprises within the broader health industry that are in their growth, expansion, or maturity stages, possess promising industry development prospects, and hold significant value for mergers and acquisitions. It will also focus on private placement opportunities of high-quality listed companies, as well as investment opportunities arising from the mixed-ownership reform and restructuring of large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises in the medical and healthcare sector.
It is reported that this product has achieved comprehensive breakthroughs from hardware to software and is integrated with cutting-edge cloud technology. By leveraging cloud servers, it enables cloud-based processing and diagnosis, offering advantages such as faster whole-body scanning speeds, high image quality, and dynamic cardiac scanning. Currently, only manufacturers such as GE, Siemens, and Philips are capable of producing 128-slice CT scanners, with market prices ranging from approximately RMB 8 million to RMB 12 million. The introduction of the 128-slice spiral CT has broken the long-standing monopoly held by foreign manufacturers in this sector. Neusoft will accelerate its deployment in internet healthcare, focusing on telemedicine, intelligent diagnosis, and home health management.
Jinxiang.com holds an online pharmaceutical sales license, while Guahao.com possesses resources of offline physicians. The two parties are expected to expand cooperation in areas such as wearable devices, private hospitals, and pharmaceuticals, which will help Guahao.com integrate online and offline services to form a closed loop. It is reported that Fosun Pharma established an Internet Business Development Department this year, focusing on the innovative expansion of internet healthcare services and their integration with existing business operations. Currently, the company will center on commercial medical insurance and collaborate with enterprises such as Guahao.com to connect the “insurance, healthcare, and pharmaceutical” industry chain, thereby launching a new model of internet healthcare.
On the 9th, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Notice on the 2014 Work Summary and 2015 Key Tasks for Deepening the Medical and Health System Reform.” The Notice specifies the deepening of reforms to the medical insurance payment system, requiring that reforms to payment methods cover all public hospitals within county-level administrative areas and pilot city regions, and gradually extend to all medical services.
The National Development and Reform Commission, in conjunction with multiple departments, jointly issued the “Notice on Printing and Distributing the Opinions on Promoting Drug Price Reform.” The notice decides that, effective June 1 of this year, government-set pricing for the vast majority of drugs will be abolished, the drug procurement mechanism will be improved, and the cost-containment role of medical insurance will be leveraged, so that actual transaction prices of drugs will be primarily determined by market competition.
At the State Council’s executive meeting, it was discussed and decided to draw on international experience and launch pilot programs for preferential individual income tax policies, encouraging the purchase of comprehensive commercial health insurance suitable for the general public. For individuals purchasing such insurance, expenditures are allowed as pre-tax deductions up to an annual limit of 2,400 yuan. This initiative aims to better support people’s livelihoods through the combined efforts of the government and the market.
The General Office of the State Council issued the Development Plan for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Health Services (2015–2020), which provides a comprehensive deployment for the development of TCM health services in China both at present and in the coming period. This is China’s first national-level plan specifically addressing the development of TCM health services. The Plan encourages qualified TCM professionals, particularly renowned and experienced TCM practitioners, to establish TCM clinics, and permits pharmaceutical distribution enterprises to operate TCM clinic-based practices. It also encourages social capital to invest in establishing traditional TCM clinics.
The Liaoning Provincial Government has issued the “Implementation Opinions on Further Accelerating the Reform and Development of the Modern Insurance Service Industry.” Effective immediately, Liaoning Province permits individuals to use surplus funds from their basic medical insurance personal accounts to purchase commercial health insurance. Concurrently, the province will improve the corporate income tax policy regarding employers’ payments of supplementary medical insurance premiums for employees. Furthermore, by 2020, insurance is expected to become an effective tool for the government to enhance public services and strengthen social management. By that time, the province’s insurance penetration rate is projected to reach 5%, and insurance density is anticipated to reach RMB 3,500 per capita.
Pharmacy Benefit Manager/value-based-care
According to eMarketer’s forecast on global mobile internet usage, the number of mobile social network users in China will surpass the total population of the United States this year, rising by 11.6% to reach 335.9 million. The firm also predicts that China’s mobile social network user growth rate will remain in double digits through 2017, with the number of users reaching 480.4 million by 2019. This year, monthly mobile social network users account for 83% of China’s total social network users, 32.5% of mobile phone users, and one-quarter of China’s total population. China is also home to the world’s largest group of mobile social network users, representing 21.4% of the global total.
Shangpu Consulting’s industry analysts pointed out that due to various barriers such as policy and technology, as well as the short development period, China’s mobile healthcare sector remains in its early stages and is unlikely to achieve rapid scaling in the short term. However, from a market prospect perspective, the earlier influx of capital has enabled some companies to devote resources to carefully designing sustainable business model frameworks, thereby providing a development paradigm for later entrants. This phase represents an industry consolidation stage, with mainstream vendor groups beginning to take shape, such as 5U, Chunyu (Spring Rain), and Haodafu. The market is expected to experience rapid growth in 2021, with the entire industry moving toward maturity.
According to the "Global Oncology Trends Report" released by market research firm IMS Health, global spending on cancer drugs reached $100 billion in 2014, a year-on-year increase of 10.3%. IMS Health noted that this $100 billion accounted for 10.8% of total global pharmaceutical expenditure. The growth was primarily driven by the introduction of expensive new cancer therapies in developed markets. The report projects that global spending on cancer drugs will maintain a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6%–8% over the next three years, reaching between $117 billion and $147 billion by 2018.
Tractica’s recent forecast indicates that the biometrics market will reach a value of $14.9 billion by 2024. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the biometrics market is projected to be 25.3%, with cumulative revenues over ten years amounting to $67.8 billion. The report also states that the leading industries adopting biometric technology in the next decade will include finance, consumer devices, healthcare, government and enterprise applications, defense, education, law enforcement, and non-governmental organizations.
According to Tractica, shipments of smart clothing are projected to rise from 140,000 units in 2013 to 10.2 million units by 2020. The report also estimates that the number of body-worn sensor devices will decline, dropping from 3 million in 2013 to 1.2 million in 2017. However, this figure is expected to rebound by 2020, as growth in newer devices—such as maternal and infant monitoring systems, headbands, gesture-tracking sensors, and 3D motion tracking technologies—will offset the decline in heart rate monitoring sensors.
Global market research firm GlobalData released a report stating that over the next decade (2013–2023), nine new drugs in late-stage development are expected to reach the market, eight of which will be indicated for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Furthermore, driven by a significant influx of new products, the market size for prostate cancer treatments across the nine major global pharmaceutical markets—the United States, Japan, Brazil, Canada, and the five major European countries (the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain)—is projected to triple, growing from $2.6 billion in 2013 to $8.3 billion in 2023, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4% during the forecast period.
According to an Accenture survey of 200 executive directors from insurance companies (covering all types), two-thirds of insurance executives believe that wearable technology will have a significant impact on the insurance industry. The survey found that 63% of respondents believe the insurance industry will widely adopt wearable devices within the next two years. Approximately 31% stated that their companies are already leveraging wearable devices to engage with customers, employees, or partners. Furthermore, 73% of respondents indicated that providing personalized experiences to members is one of their top three priorities, and 50% reported having witnessed a return on investment in this technology.
In an article published in the English-language journal ETSN by Scientific Research Publishing, scholars including Ye Li from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, employed a Lenovo LePhone smartphone running the Android operating system to conduct fall detection research. The detection process utilized a triaxial accelerometer to collect data, followed by data processing, feature extraction, and fall event detection algorithms. If a fall was detected, the phone emitted a beep to alert the user and awaited a response; otherwise, it returned to the data collection phase. A user response indicated a false positive, prompting the user to reset the system. If no response was received, the system obtained the GPS coordinates and map location of the fall, sent this information to pre-designated contacts, and sounded an alarm.
Neuroscientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Recently Conducted a Fascinating “Artificial Ghost” Experiment in the LaboratoryNeuroscientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have recently successfully conducted a fascinating experiment on “artificial ghosts” in the laboratory. By using robots to interfere with the sensory signals in the brains of blindfolded volunteers, researchers induced the eerie phenomenon of “ghostly apparitions.” The researchers believe that these findings may help patients with neurological disorders regulate their perceptual abilities.
Active Implants, based in Memphis, Tennessee, together with researchers from Cornell University and Columbia University in New York, have launched the NUsurface implant, a new artificial meniscus-type device. This implant closely mimics the patient’s native meniscus, helping to absorb shock and stabilize the knee during physical activity. It is also the first fully synthetic meniscal replacement implant.
