Ping An healthcare revenue grows 39% in H1

Ping An Healthcare and Technology Co Ltd, also known as Ping An Good Doctor, a leading online medical and healthcare service platform in China, announced a 39 percent year-on-year revenue growth in the first half of this year, amid surging opportunities brought by internet healthcare.

On Tuesday, the company announced its 2021 interim results. During the reporting period, the company kept up strong growth momentum, achieved a balanced development across all business segments and recorded revenue of 3.8 billion yuan ($586.7 million), up 39 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the company reported a net loss of 879 million yuan during the reporting period, 666 million yuan higher than the same period in 2020.

"The company is expected to break even between 2024 and 2025. Our business is developing in an organized manner, and our strategic investment followed our plan. Everything is in orderly progress," said Ye Lan, chief financial officer of Ping An Good Doctor.

In particular, revenue from medical services grew by 50.6 percent year-on-year and contributed revenue of nearly 1.1 billion yuan. Revenue from consumer healthcare grew by 66.1 percent year-on-year to 714 million yuan. The number of the company's registered users reached 400 million, an increase of nearly 55 million as compared to the same period in 2020, the report said.

"The company continued to step up investments in strategic upgrades on three fronts, namely its capabilities, services and channels," Fang Weihao, CEO of Ping An Good Doctor said. He noted that in the first half of this year, Ping An Good Doctor made notable progress in medical specialty operations. The company focused on three medical specialties, namely dermatology, traditional Chinese medicine, and gynecology and obstetrics, gathering more than 100 famous specialists and incubating other specialists in fields like ophthalmology, pediatrics, internal medicine and surgery. 

With the 24/7 online consultation services provided by in-house medical teams and the authoritative guidance of external renowned doctors, users have been provided with a wide range of services, such as online consultations, prescription, medication guides, results interpretation and follow-up care available at home, he said.

In respect to medical service capabilities, Ping An Good Doctor pioneered online tiered diagnosis and treatment, and positioned about 2,000 in-house medical teams. Access to the customer is secured through four scenarios, namely health management, sub-health management, disease management and chronic disease management, creating a full-lifecycle electronic health record for each user.

In addition to in-house medical teams, the company expanded the network of external doctors with more than 70 percent of medical specialists from tertiary hospitals. The company also launched more than 450 Famous Doctor Studios and adopted the "double-doctor" model to improve utilization of high-quality medical resources, lifting user satisfaction to over 99 percent in the first half of 2021, said the company.

Being a key part of the Ping An healthcare ecosystem, the company focused on the conversion of high-value users acquired through integrated finance channels and corporate clients' channels empowering the group to provide financial services.

For corporate clients, the company provided customized products through an in-depth understanding of corporate employers, as well as employee demands for medical services and healthcare services, basing it on industry-specific attributes and employee conditions within the company. This effectively reduced employers' cost of medical treatment for employees and formulated customized health management solutions, as well. As a result, the company has successfully become a preferred health partner for corporate employers and a loyal health guardian for enterprises and employees.

In addition, the company has discovered a clearer trajectory for internet hospital development. While enhancing online service capability, the company also is exploring ways for seamless online-to-offline experiences throughout the consultation and medical processes by integrating medical, doctor and traffic resources with influential offline public hospitals. 

The company said that as of June 30, it has been licensed to develop internet hospitals under a self-construction model in 10 cities and has signed co-construction agreements with 205 hospitals to build internet hospital platforms.

According to the company, going forward Ping An Good Doctor will shift its focus onto national and regional hospital giants. The company's strategy is designed to focus on online famous hospitals, specialist centers and O2O specialist service packages in the short run. Online platform operations, tiered diagnosis and treatment services and the availability of Social Health Insurance payment at offline hospitals are the focus in the long run. 

The company will step up efforts to build an urban healthcare ecosystem network by centering on O2O healthcare services for Grade A tertiary hospitals and co-constructed internet hospitals in cities, it added.

A report from the Internet Society of China showed that by December, China's online healthcare users totaled 215 million, taking up 21.7 percent of total netizens. It is estimated China's internet healthcare market will reach 283.1 billion yuan by the end of this year, growing 45 percent year-on-year.