In the era of great supervision, where is the road to the Internet medical industry? On November 18, 2021, the Lilac Garden Lilac Doctor Ecological Partner Conference was held in Shanghai, and people in the Internet pharmaceutical industry gathered together to discuss the new situation of industry development.
With the release of the "Internet Diagnosis and Treatment Supervision Rules (Draft for Comments)" in October this year, the new trend of industry supervision has become a hot topic in the industry, Chen Qiulin, deputy director of the Health Industry Development Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out in his speech that China's Internet medical industry is still in its infancy, there are problems such as "zombie online hospitals", the new regulatory policy emphasizes the principle of online and offline consistency, and pays attention to the ills of the industry, all parties in the industry should adapt to the strict regulatory situation, and should strive in the direction of "following the law, standardizing innovation". Committed to using Internet tools to reshape the entire healthcare system, so that patients can participate more in the medical process and self-manage their health.
On November 18th, Chen Qiulin, deputy director of the Health Industry Development Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, attended the Lilac Garden Lilac Doctor Ecological Partnership Conference and made an online speech.
Status: The policy promotes while regulating the "zombie online hospital" has become a prominent problem
"The era of great supervision has arrived, but I think the supervision of the industry is a good thing," said Li Tiantian, founder and chairman of Lilac Garden.
Regarding the regulatory and policy trends of the Internet medical industry, Chen Qiulin, deputy director of the Health Industry Development Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, made a speech at the conference on "How to interpret the progress of Internet medical policy?" " share.
"Our research data found that 20% of Chinese doctors have carried out online services on online platforms, and Internet medical care has developed rapidly," Chen Qiulin said, the current data shows that there are 1600 Internet hospitals in China, and more than 7700 hospitals above the second level provide online services.
At present, the challenges are mainly the problems of less medical insurance access, the implementation of the first diagnosis ban, the online sales of prescription drugs, data security, and the doctor's multi-point practice, "from the perspective of the industry, although the industry is very hot, it does not make money, the industry is still in the initial stage of development, and the incidence of violations is relatively high", Chen Qiulin said, although the policy has promoted the development of Internet medical treatment, but there are some Internet hospitals that are "built to cope with it", and "zombie online hospitals" have become a more prominent problem.
Overall, Chen Qiulin believes that after the new crown epidemic, the policy progress related to Internet medical care is optimistic. When the epidemic first appeared, multiple departments introduced policies to promote the development of Internet medical care, this year's government work report also proposed to promote the development of Internet + medical health norms, and in October, the National Health Commission issued the "Internet Diagnosis and Treatment Supervision Rules (Draft for Comment)", which put forward normative requirements for the industry while promoting the development of the industry.
Interpretation: Regulatory rules highlight the principle of online and offline consistency, pointing directly to the ills of the industry
Chen Qiulin elaborated on his interpretation of the detailed rules. "In fact, many of the measures in this document are the basic requirements of offline medical institutions, and no new ones are proposed, but we did not consider what should be offline online", he believes that the regulatory content basically continues the principle of full traceability and responsibility, and the requirements for online and offline consistency are more obvious.
At the same time, the regulatory requirements are also clearer, for example, the provincial regulatory platform is required to inspect at least once a month, the institutional verification is once a year, and the provincial department should analyze the overall situation of Internet medical treatment, "these requirements are more quantitative and clear, making the supervision more feasible."
He also noted that the regulatory rules require Internet medical platforms to have special departments to provide professional training for personnel, "indicating that the policy side is increasingly recognizing that Internet medical care is not simply moving medical services to the Internet, but a process of system reshaping, with new capabilities."
In addition, the regulatory rules also respond to recent hot issues in the industry, prohibiting the unified party and supplementing the party, emphasizing the regulation of prescription drug sales and eliminating disguised drug rebates. Chen Qiulin said that with the reform of the field of drug circulation, the marketing means in the circulation field have become less, a part of the marketing has been transferred to the online, online "medicine to support medicine" and even drug rebate problems, "this phenomenon has brought great challenges to the long-term development of Internet medical treatment, now the policy is clear that these can not be done, but also we have been calling, do not transfer the offline problems solved in the medical reform to online, otherwise it will lead to disastrous consequences in the industry."
On November 18, 2021, the Lilac Garden Lilac Doctor Ecological Partnership Conference was held in Shanghai.
Interpretation: Internet medical care is destined to be a "strictly regulated" field
From the perspective of Internet supervision, Chen Qiulin believes that this regulatory rule is also to adapt to the new changes in the state's regulatory governance of the Internet field since this year, and put forward requirements for information security and content management.
Chen Qiulin believes that not allowing artificial intelligence to directly receive medical treatment does not mean that artificial intelligence cannot be used, artificial intelligence is only an auxiliary, and medical decisions are still to be made by the doctor himself.
The detailed rules also propose that when the patient has a condition, the doctor should stop online diagnosis and treatment in a timely manner, Chen Qiulin believes that this actually gives the doctor more autonomy and is conducive to the doctor's decision-making, but the operation process involves the termination of the contract, how to deal with the prepaid fee, the corresponding rules may be needed in the future.
"The Internet medical field is destined not to be the most open, because medical treatment must be a whole process of supervision, the whole process can be traced, and the responsibility can be reversed", Chen Qiulin said, on the one hand, the Internet field must promote development, when we are connected to the Internet, the medical field is impossible without touching the Internet, but the Internet medical field must also be a very strictly regulated field.
Response: The industry needs continuous model innovation and courageous institutional innovation
He believes that "standardizing in innovation and innovating in norms" is the future development trend of this industry. How should the parties respond? His advice is: follow the rules, standardize innovation.
Follow the law, not only the Internet platform to follow the law of medical development, in line with the direction of medical reform, to prevent offline problems online, but also to medical institutions to follow the development law of the Internet, Internet hospitals are not simply from offline to online, but the reshaping of the operating system, the operation of Internet hospitals also need to invest manpower, material resources, financial resources.
In terms of standardization and innovation development, Chen Qiulin proposed that the Internet medical field has not yet taken shape, many things are still being explored, and continuous model innovation is needed.
He believes that there is still a lot of room for model innovation, for example, Internet medical treatment, as a supplement and extension of offline medical treatment, can better realize pre-diagnosis and post-diagnosis services, solve the asymmetry of doctor-patient information, extend the communication channels between doctors and patients, and help doctors and patients establish long-term trust.
On the other hand, the more critical is the innovation of the system, to make good use of the pilot policy, the courage to explore the breakthrough of key issues, to promote the breakthrough of the policy, but also to strengthen the innovation of standardized supervision, "in the process of regulatory innovation, not only the innovation of government supervision, but also the industry to exert force."
Outlook: Can the Internet drive the transition of healthcare systems from "supply-side" to "patient" centers?
Chen Qiulin mentioned that the fourteenth meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform stressed that we should attach great importance to the application of a new generation of information technology in the field of medicine and health, reshape the management and service model of medicine and health, optimize the allocation of resources, and improve service efficiency.
He also mentioned that China's Internet + medical health is not only Internet diagnosis and treatment, but also includes public health, family doctor contracts and drugs, medical insurance, science, artificial intelligence and other aspects of deep integration, and the development of the health field is currently insufficient, "We especially look forward to the future of Internet medical can be more and the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence deep integration, vertical integration to the front end, and related industrial chain to form an ecosystem."
"What I am more looking forward to is that our Internet innovation can allow patients to join the entire medical process, so that patients can manage their own health", Chen Qiulin proposed, the current medical system is still centered on medical institutions and suppliers, rather than patients as the center, and the Internet provides a new way, patients may be able to participate in this process, "If we can do this, I think it is an important embodiment of the Internet reshaping the medical service system, I hope that the industry can promote such work."
Written by: Nandu reporter Li Wen