Internet diagnosis and treatment bid farewell to barbaric growth: increasingly strict supervision, relying on selling drugs to make profits is facing challenges

　　Our reporter Zhang Min

　　In recent years, the normalization of epidemic prevention and control has led to online diagnosis and treatment activities, which has promoted the rapid development of the Internet diagnosis and treatment industry, and has allowed it to stand on the cusp of capital.

　　In order to further standardize Internet diagnosis and treatment, promote the healthy development of Internet diagnosis and treatment services, and ensure medical quality and medical safety, on October 26, the National Health Commission organized the drafting of the "Internet Diagnosis and Treatment Regulations (Draft for Comment)" (referred to as "Draft for Comment" ), which provides a basis for the current supervision of Internet diagnosis and treatment.

According to industry insiders, after experiencing brutal growth, the Internet diagnosis and treatment industry will enter an era of strong supervision.

　　In this regard, Chen Liteng, a life service e-commerce analyst at the E-commerce Research Center of the Net Economics, said that after the release of the "Draft for Comments", the Internet will be diagnosed and treated from the aspects of medical institution supervision, personnel supervision, business supervision, quality and safety supervision, and supervisory responsibilities. Carry out all-round supervision and promote the Internet diagnosis and treatment industry to enter a stage of high-quality and standardized development.

　　An Internet medical e-commerce company person who did not want to be named told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the introduction of regulatory policies will help clarify the boundaries and responsibilities of Internet diagnosis and treatment, and is conducive to the healthier development of Internet diagnosis and treatment companies.

　　Internet hospital resources are idle

　　The focus will shift from construction to operation

　　Since the National Health Commission first clarified the Internet hospital admission management policy in 2018, 1,600 Internet hospitals have been established in just a few years.

An Internet medical company told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the current number of Internet hospitals is too large, and the number of real services is very few. There will be a round of reshuffle in this industry.

　　Prior to the release of the "Draft for Comments", the "2021 China Internet Hospital Development Report" issued by the National Telemedicine and Internet Medical Center and the Joint Health Community also showed that there are only a handful of Internet hospitals that can truly achieve effective and sustainable operations.

　　Taking the Internet hospital operating data released by the Hainan Provincial Health Commission as an example, only 11 of the 58 public hospitals in Hainan Province have established Internet hospitals that actually carry out Internet diagnosis and treatment services, and 3 of them have no more than 20 people; almost more than 90% of Internet hospitals are in a state of being built and not used.

How to locate and develop Internet hospitals to avoid idle resources, low efficiency or repeated construction has become a problem that needs to be considered and solved urgently.

　　The release of the "Draft for Comment" directly hit the pain points of the industry: As the second-named Internet hospital of a physical medical institution, it must be verified at the same time as the physical medical institution; relying on the physical medical institution to obtain a separate "Medical Institution Practicing License" 》Internet hospitals must be checked once a year.

　　Wang Lan, a senior medical consultant of Hangzhou Quality Information Technology Co., Ltd., said in an interview with a reporter from the Securities Daily that the strengthening of supervision is conducive to regulating the development of the industry, and it is expected that more open policies will be introduced in the future.

"The first review every year means that the development focus of the Internet medical industry will shift from construction to operation."

　　Blocking the onlineization of "medicine to nourish doctors"

　　Test the corporate profit model

　　Eliminating "medicine to support medical care" is the focus of the current medical reform.

With the development of Internet technology, Internet-based drug marketing has become a trend, and the normalization of epidemic prevention and control has accelerated the trend of Internet-based drug circulation.

However, how to solve the problems of commercial bribery and sales with money in the field of Internet diagnosis and treatment has also become the focus of market attention.

　　The “Regulations for Internet Diagnosis and Treatment (Draft for Comment)” issued by the National Health Commission pointed out that medical institutions should strictly abide by the prescription management regulations such as the “Prescription Management Measures” when conducting Internet diagnosis and treatment activities, strengthen drug management, and prohibit unified prescriptions, supplements, etc. The problem occurs.

The personal income of medical and health personnel shall not be linked to the income of medicines and medical examinations.

　　Chen Liteng believes that the "Draft for Solicitation of Comments" raises the barriers to entry for the industry, is conducive to the development of Internet diagnosis and treatment platforms that provide technical services, and brings great challenges to platforms that focus on medical e-commerce.

　　Since the beginning of this year, Dingdang Health, Zhiyun Health, Supai Health, and Yuanxin Technology, which have gathered on the Internet diagnosis and treatment track, have successively submitted prospectuses.

Although the businesses of these companies are in different segments of the Internet medical track, they are inseparable from the profit model of "mainly selling drugs".

　　The prospectus released by SpeciHealth shows that in 2018, 2019, 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, the company’s revenue from pharmaceutical benefit management (PBM) accounted for 40.9%, 83.1%, 91.9% and 92.1% of total revenue, respectively. .

The prospectus issued by Yuanxin Technology shows that in 2018, 2019, and 2020, the company's total revenue will be 818.8 million yuan, 2.352.1 billion yuan, and 3.6294 billion yuan, respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 110%.

Among them, the income from out-of-hospital comprehensive patient services was 809 million yuan, 2.3 billion yuan, and 3.5 billion yuan, accounting for over 90% of total revenue.

　　"Internetization of the medical industry is the general trend, but at present, most platforms are not yet profitable. After entering the era of strong supervision, how to find a suitable profit model for platforms needs further exploration." Chen Liteng said.

(Securities Daily)