Concord rides nation's private healthcare push to robust growth

China's push to encourage specialized private hospitals and expand commercial health insurance is opening new opportunities for high-end medical providers, as Hong Kong-listed Concord Healthcare Group reported rapid growth in its hospital and proton therapy businesses.

Concord runs Guangzhou Concord Cancer Hospital, Shanghai Concord Medical Imaging Center and Shanghai Concord Radiotherapy Clinic, with Shanghai Concord Medical Cancer Center under construction.

According to the company's 2025 annual report, revenue from its hospital business rose 37.4 percent year-on-year to 373.26 million yuan ($55.2 million) in 2025, accounting for 81.2 percent of group revenue. The hospital business recorded a gross profit of 34.6 million yuan and a margin of 9.3 percent, reversing a gross loss of 64.9 million yuan in 2024.

"The performance of the hospitals has continued to improve this year, especially at Guangzhou Concord, and the hospital business will account for a substantial share of group revenue," Yang Jianyu, chairman of Concord Healthcare Group, said in an interview.

This growth aligns with China's broader policy of directing private healthcare providers toward more specialized and differentiated services.

Under the national health plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), private hospitals are encouraged to clarify their market positioning, improve operational management, practice medicine in accordance with the law and raise service quality.

The plan promotes specialized, branded and chain-based development, encouraging private entities to set up non-profit medical institutions in areas experiencing shortages, such as rehabilitation and nursing.

The plan also encourages closer integration between commercial health insurance and health management, supporting international medical cooperation and products that cover specialized medical services.

Citing Frost & Sullivan, SPDB International forecasts that China's private medical-services market could grow from 1.3 trillion yuan in 2024 to 2.2 trillion yuan in 2029, representing a compound annual growth of about 11 percent. However, the brokerage cautioned that tighter basic insurance payment controls would increase pressure on inefficient hospitals.

Concord is seeking to differentiate itself through proton therapy, a form of precision radiotherapy that can reduce radiation exposure to healthy tissue surrounding a tumor.

"Its core advantage is precise tumor targeting while maximizing protection of surrounding healthy tissue," said Zhang Fuquan, chairman of the radiotherapy equipment technology branch of the China Association of Medical Equipment and a chief physician at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, in an interview with Life Times. He also cautioned that proton therapy was not suitable for every patient, and that eligibility should be determined through multidisciplinary assessment.

Guangzhou Concord began full-scale proton operations in December 2024. Qian Chaonan, president of Guangzhou Concord, said that the hospital treated its 1,000th proton patient this month and domestic patients accounted for about 85 percent of the total.

Access to proton therapy remains limited, partly because the systems are classified as Category A large medical equipment and require central allocation approval. Under the 2025 licensing round, the National Health Commission planned permits for 11 proton or heavy-ion systems, including three reserved for privately run institutions.

While this limited allocation grants approved hospitals scarcity value, commercial success still relies on maintaining patient volumes and expanding payment coverage for the expensive treatment.

To address this, Concord has diversified its payment structures. According to Concord's 2025 annual report, basic medical insurance accounted for 23 percent of payments in its hospital business in 2025, down from 40 percent in 2024. The shift coincides with the company's payment network expansion through commercial and government-guided supplementary insurance products to expand access to treatment.

Concord is also expanding its footprint overseas, and has signed a memorandum of understanding with National Hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia, to jointly establish an oncology service center.

"We will mainly work with well-regarded local hospitals to establish radiotherapy centers, train local doctors, standardize treatment procedures and serve patients in need," Yang said, adding that Chinese medical technologies and brands were gaining wider acceptance in those markets.