How to Access to China’s Healthcare Market
Boston, MA, July 24th, 2018 - U.S.-China Health Summit held a seminar on “How to Access to China’s Healthcare Market” and also an info session to promote its 2018 Innovation Competition. The event gathered scholars, leaders, and decision makers of the China's healthcare industry.
Justin Yang, a finalist of the 2016 Innovation Competition and the founder of MobioSense, said: " To start business in a foreign country with a completely different healthcare system, the startup needs an authority to endorse."
The U.S.-China Health Summit is dedicated to providing a high-level strategic dialogue platform for healthcare professionals and leaders. To better connect the China's healthcare market demands with innovation projects, the Summit launched the Innovation program since 2015.
“'Who pays the bill' is the biggest difference between China and U.S. healthcare systems, " David Mou, the 2016 winner and founder of Valera Health said, "in the U.S., start-ups can dig deeper by helping insurance companies save money. In China, startups have to figure out how to save money for every payer, which needs the guidance from experts who are familiar with Chinese policies."
Panelists
When talking about market demands and development of both countries, Liu Yuanli, Dean of the School of Public Health of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), and President of China Aging Care Association said: "there’s still a huge gap in China's healthcare industry, which in turn lead to a golden period for startups. The gap is reflected in two areas: aging and drug innovation."
Liu explained further: "China is not fully prepared to tackle the aging trend and to serve the size of 150 million people over the age of 65." As for drug innovation and development, Liu said, Chinese practitioners should focus on matching China's huge drug demands with drug innovations from foreign entrepreneurs.
LIU Yuanli
The audience also had a discussion on the healthcare policy reform. A student from Harvard Medical School raised questions about the China's rehabilitation market.
“There is institutional progresses of the rehabilitation market in China,” said Tan Yingchun, President of Beijing Amcare Medical Group. “Current social insurance policies increase the reimbursement rate of rehabilitation services for users with Procurement Service Packages. Community hospitals which wasn't fully utilized have gradually transformed into rehabilitation centers.
Jin Ronghua, Vice President of Beijing You'an Hospital, added "rehabilitation has greatly expanded from depth and breadth, ranging from non-communicable diseases to infectious chronic diseases. Rehabilitation levels range from system to organ, and even to branch level.
A student from Boston University College of Communication raised questions about the application of big data in the healthcare industry. Su Lingyun, Director of the Alibaba Health Research Institute, said that informatization relied on huge financial input. As the China’s leading technology company, Alibaba focuses on utilizing data to strengthen health information security and privacy management.
During the 90-minutes Q&A session, there are discussions about the application of blockchain and artificial intelligence technology on healthcare industry.
“We were trying to enter the Chinese market for more than 30 years, but always find that there's a glass wall,” said Jerrold M. Shapiro, founder of Floelle Inc. “I find it possibile today because the U.S.-China Health Summit brings policy-makers to us."
The U.S.-China Health Summit will continue to provide the latest information and policy interpretations of the healthcare industry, and support the innovation projects with research, government and business resources. The 2018 Annual Summit will be held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province from October 12-14. The Innovation Competition Final will be held at the same time as one of the Summit's sessions.
