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Online hospital seeks to remedy ailing system
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AFTER a pharmacist types her personal information into a computer and gives her an earphone mic, Anna Jiang gets connected to a doctor through a video call and starts her first online medical consultation.
By describing her symptoms — a runny nose and sore throat, as well as showing the doctor her tongue — Jiang receives a prescription from the doctor and has it printed. She purchases the medicine at the pharmacy and goes home, all in about 15 minutes.
Online medical consultation is an emerging and fast-growing field.
Guangdong Online Hospital is China’s first officially recognized online medical service organization authorized to give prescribed medicines in the country. It receives about 300 patients like Jiang, who’s in her 50s, every day and has been running since November when it was launched.
Jiang says she decided to try it based on a friend’s recommendation.
“My friend is right. It saves so much time compared with going to a real hospital,” Jiang says. “Even though you knew that you needed a Coldrex tablet, you had to queue hours to have the doctor prescribe it. But now you can complete the whole process within minutes.”
Doctors from Guangdong No. 2 People’s Hospital, Shenzhen Youdeyi Technology Company and more than 10 chain pharmacies form the backbone of the Online Hospital system in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan.
About seven professional doctors covering general medicine, TCM and cardiovascular diseases provide online consultation from their offices. More than 1,000 online medical service stations have been set up in pharmacies to connect patients with the doctors. Patients can purchase any prescribed medicines right at the pharmacy or go elsewhere.
“The Guangdong Online Hospital is running smoothly. Most patients have common ailments that are easily treated,” says Zhang Shengming, director of Guangdong No. 2 People’s Hospital’s medical development department.
The goal of the online hospital is to provide more convenience to patients while also relieving the burden on physical hospitals, according to Zhang.
“Many people complain about the difficulty in seeing a doctor,” Zhang says. “But a major problem leading to the difficulty is the fact that everybody is going to a big hospital to see a prominent doctor, even though they only have a cold or need a prescription refilled. The online system can effectively reduce the number of patients going to physical hospitals.”
Increasing number
Of course, setting up stations to cover as many communities as possible and helping patients learn to trust the service will be crucial in determining its long-term success.
Only about 30 pharmacies participated in the trial last year, but now there are 1,000. The number is expected to reach 10,000 by the end of this year, according to Zhang.
Zheng Haotao, general manager of Guangdong Jingkang Chain Pharmacy, says they were one of the first pharmacies to join the online hospital. He expresses confidence in the future.
Though many admit being skeptical at first, some patients have become regular users of the service after trying it. Most also purchase the prescribed medicine immediately in the pharmacy.
Though the original plan called for community health centers to join, pharmacies seem to be the best partners, Zhang says. The potential sales brought by prescriptions from online doctors is a major incentive for them to take part.
China’s prescription medication market is worth more than 1 trillion yuan (US$160 billion), but about 80 percent of these drugs are sold at hospitals, the president of a well-known online medicine store told National Business Daily.
Retail pharmacies thus compete for the remaining 20 percent with online stores, while facing higher costs.
According to David Xu of a participating pharmacy, prescribed medicine sales usually account for about 20 percent of its income. This is expected to reach 25 percent by participating with the Online Hospital, he says.
“We estimate about 10 prescriptions will be made at the online service station of our pharmacy every day and 30 percent of the patients will purchase the medicine in our pharmacy,” says Xu, who is optimistic about its success.
Despite the convenience, some patients still aren’t convinced that doctors can make an accurate diagnosis with video chat.
“I admit there are limitations in online medical diagnosis. That’s why the Online Hospital focuses only on common and chronic problems that can be easily diagnosed,” Zhang says. “We still encourage patients with acute and severe problems to go to a physical hospital. We are also working on advancing the technology while working with doctors to improve accuracy and reduce risks.”
According to Zhang, all online doctors are required to ask plenty of questions when making a diagnosis. They are also required to withhold from prescribing medicine if they are not sure about the problem. Doctors will make follow-up phone calls with some patients to ensure they are recovering as expected.
The Online Hospital is also planning to introduce high-tech equipment that can deliver more information of the patient such as vital signs to doctors.
“Advances in information technology have brought the world into a village, so I am confident about it shortening the distance between patients and doctors as well,” Zhang says. “Even at a hospital there is no such thing as zero risk, but we are trying our best to reduce the risk to the minimum.”
All medical consultations through the Online Hospital are free so far. It’s unclear whether patients will be required to pay in the future but it is applying to charge a 10-yuan consultation fee per patient.
“The Online Hospital so far is losing money,” Zhang says. “It will become a business someday, but not necessarily based on consulting fees. Considering all the successful online business models in other different industries, setting up a big platform that patients trust is our priority.”
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