The epidemic has sped up the progress bar of Internet medical care, and it has also promoted the construction and upgrading of Internet hospitals.
Public hospitals master the core medical service elements such as doctors, equipment, and places, and have perfect offline service capabilities, becoming an important support for online services. According to the 49th “Statistical Report on Internet Development in China” released in 2022, by the end of 2021, there will be 298 million online medical users in my country, accounting for 28.9% of the total Internet users.
Behind the prosperity and enthusiasm, there are also some “growing pains” in the Internet hospital. Due to the low efficiency of use, the lack of operation teams, and the undeveloped habit of online medical treatment for patients, many Internet hospitals are faced with the problem of “build but not use”, and operations are still difficult to explore.
Increase slowdown, market saturated?
The construction and operation of Internet hospitals is not all smooth sailing.
On June 23, CCTV’s “News Live Room” reported that the National Health and Health Commission revealed that at present, more than 1,700 Internet hospitals have been approved and established across the country, initially forming online and offline integrated medical services.
Looking back, in August 2021, there were more than 1,600 Internet hospitals in China;
In April 2020, the number of Internet hospitals was 500+;
In May 2019, the number of Internet hospitals was 158…
Health sector “Connected CIO” mapping
As can be seen from the above figure, from 2019 to 2021, the number of Internet will grow significantly. Especially from April 2020 to August 2021, the number of Internet hospital approvals increased from 500 to 1,600, more than quadrupling.
In 10 months from August 2021 to June 2022, the number of Internet hospitals will only increase by 100.
There is also a set of data, which is even more thought-provoking.
The report released by the health community and the National Center for Telemedicine and Internet Medicine shows that the Internet hospitals built by physical hospitals across the country will receive an average of about 55 cases per day in 2020; The average number of outpatient visits is only about 400 cases.
In 2021, a set of data provided by industry experts to the health community shows that the annual network service volume of a public hospital in Beijing is only about 1,000 cases.
After several ups and downs, why is it so difficult for public hospitals to run Internet hospitals?
Public hospitals and third parties “go both ways”
“In order to run an Internet hospital well, we must have innovative thinking.” Innovative thinking is one of the keys to solving problems that Ran Xiangui, secretary of Fuyang People’s Hospital, believes, “To integrate Internet means with the business of physical hospitals. Combination and cross-integration can make the Internet hospital operate effectively.”
In the opinion of Zhao Jie, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice President of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, this kind of thinking should be Internet thinking, “Since an Internet hospital is called an Internet hospital, it should use the Internet Thinking to operate.” Referring to the specific operation path, Zhao Jie believes that, on the one hand, public hospitals should introduce professional Internet diagnosis and treatment management talents and set up a professional Internet management department to ensure the operation of Internet hospitals; on the other hand, they should cooperate with third-party platforms, by The hospital is responsible for the medical business, and the third party is responsible for the operation.
The operation of an Internet hospital involves multiple links such as market development and patient admission. There are various difficulties in the hospital itself. At present, most of the large-scale Internet medical platforms have deployed the business of jointly building and operating Internet hospitals with public hospitals, and have tried to cooperate with each other.
Online and offline resource reorganization between third-party platforms and medical institutions at all levels in the region is one of the attempts. Wu Yuanquan, vice president of the First People’s Hospital of Kashgar, mentioned, “The Internet has improved the level of medical productivity to a certain extent. Only when the Internet diagnosis and treatment is truly scaled, and at the same time, some active means are used to divert services, so that doctors can serve at the same time. More patients will change their value from one to two, and doctors will be willing to conduct online diagnosis and treatment.”
On the whole, public hospitals provide third-party platforms with core service elements such as doctors, technology, and equipment, and third-party platforms return patient traffic and operational capabilities.
For a long time to come, the most important task of public hospitals and third-party platforms is to jointly accelerate the penetration rate of Internet medical services.
Innovative service forms to amplify resource efficiency
The ultimate goal of hospital informatization construction or Internet hospital construction is to serve patients.
“The Internet economy has penetrated all levels of society. Under the tide of ‘Internet +’, the development of Internet hospitals is imperative, and it is also a channel to provide better medical services for the masses.” Xi’an City Ye Lianhong, secretary of the People’s Hospital, mentioned that Internet medical care not only provides services in the form of an Internet hospital, but also fulfills its true mission through various forms, such as remote consultation between alliance units and integrated management of patients.
In addition, Internet hospitals can not only serve individuals, but also explore B-side services. For example, Shandong Provincial Third Hospital and WeDoctor have exported Internet hospital services to enterprises such as Shandong Expressway, China Construction Eighth Bureau, and China Construction Bank Shandong Branch, providing online consultation, health management, health education and other services for corporate employees or users. XuHui District Central Hospital, together with Guanzhong Health and Human Resources, has launched corporate health and welfare products, and has built a “cloud clinic” in the enterprise to provide employees with Internet medical services.
In this model, public Internet hospitals, third-party Internet medical companies and B-end enterprises cooperate to develop products and services precisely for the corresponding user groups, which can amplify the resource efficiency of public hospitals.
Wu Yuanquan also believes that the Internet hospital is a platform that needs to connect the entire industry chain. This process not only requires the participation of doctors, medical institutions, inspections, medicines and other roles, but also requires more energy to control quality.
Quality and safety are the eternal themes of the medical industry. In the entire Internet service process, Zhao Jie said that the supervision of the quality of doctors’ services is an important aspect for hospitals to gain the trust of patients.
Doctors are the main force in providing medical services, so the hospital’s guidance and incentives for doctors to provide Internet services are the top priority. In this regard, Fuyang People’s Hospital has established a relatively independent performance system. According to Ran Xiangui, the hospital currently implements the RBRVS system, but it has explored an independent mechanism in the Internet hospital, which is different from traditional diagnosis and treatment like cutting a cake, and improves the participation of doctors through effective incentive measures.
Obviously, public hospitals are still continuing to improve the operation of Internet medical care, and continue to explore their own methods. With the growth of Internet hospitals, the pressure of medical services in physical hospitals will be further eased, and the needs of patients for medical services will also be further guaranteed.