Embracing 'mobile' healthcare

Shanghai Re Medical Co is a startup business jointly established by Shanghai Jiaotong University's medical school and a group of professionals who specialize in the healthcare and telecommunication sectors.

It is engaged in providing remote and mobile cardiovascular disease diagnosis services for community clinics and rural healthcare centers.

"Our targeted group is China's 230 million patients with cardiovascular disease who seek help at community clinics and even rural medical institutes where cardiologists are in short supply," said the company. It now serves 170 residential community clinics in Shanghai, covering 20 million citizens. The cost of the service is around 30 percent of a professional cardiologist.

"China has 32,000 community clinics and more than 37,000 township and village medical institutes, which indicates the huge market potential of this service. Such a mobile technology-based medical service is promising in China, given its efficiency and lower cost," said James Xiao, senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers China Pharmaceutical & Life Science, who was in charge of PwC's global study on mobile technology in healthcare in China.

A mobile healthcare service refers to using mobile devices, such as cellphones and iPads, to collect community and clinical health data to deliver healthcare information to practitioners, researchers and patients and conduct interactive communication. When further developed, it can also monitor patients' vital signs and direct provision of care via mobile telemedicine.

PwC's study shows widespread adoption of mobile technology in healthcare is now viewed as inevitable by 80 percent of doctors and healthcare payers in China. PwC surveyed 103 ordinary people, 76 doctors, 31 hospital executives and 14 officials from medical and insurance departments around the nation.

The study found that Chinese people have high expectations of mobile healthcare. The number of cellphone subscribers in China has exceeded 900 million, making the nation the largest mobile user base in the world. China is also in the process of upgrading its healthcare system through policy reforms and massive government investment in access, quality and efficiency. "These two forces will create fertile ground for growing mobile technology businesses that hope to target the diverse needs of the Chinese people," said the report.

"People in China are very excited about the potential benefits mobile healthcare could bring about as its applications will empower Chinese people to take control of their health," said Ronald Ling, PwC's Asia healthcare leader.

The study report indicates that 54 percent of those surveyed believe mobile healthcare service will improve the way they manage their overall health. And 45 percent hope to use mobile healthcare service as a way to make access to doctors more convenient. A total of 36 percent believe the service will also reduce medical care costs.

The most desired mobile healthcare solutions are in the areas of integrating real-time medical information from patients into their existing medical records, allowing transparency between doctors and patients. A total of 24 percent of those surveyed are aware of and willing to use the integrated services, while 73 percent will be willing to use the integrated services in the future. Almost all future users of the integrated services are willing to pay for them.

Fu Jianming, a 45-year-old Beijinger, said he really hopes this service can be available in his community as soon as possible. "My parents and parents-in-law are all over 75 and living with me and my wife. If the service is offered, it will be very convenient for them to see doctors in community clinics, a place with many fewer patients than in big hospitals and it is near our home," he said. "At the same time they can enjoy a high-quality diagnosis service, the same as that in big hospitals. That's fantastic."

The study also found Chinese doctors expect mobile technology healthcare to improve both their interaction with hospitals and with patients. Around 44 percent of the surveyed doctors think this service can bring better processes and communications with hospitals, and 33 percent think it can reduce administrative time.

Reduced cost is also a key attraction to adopting mobile medical solutions. New entrants in the sector in China have emerged with ideas that create attractive benefits for patients and doctors, sound returns on the investments of stakeholders and a sustainable revenue model for themselves.

"Looking back to how the Internet and mobile phones revolutionized everyday life, the service seems to be a logical solution towards China's healthcare transformation," said Xiao. "The prevalence of mobile users and maturity of China's mobile infrastructure will help bypass any limitations in the existing system. Using this solution, doctors in rural areas can enjoy the same level of access to medical knowledge and communication as in a large city, and chronic health conditions can be monitored and managed at the doctor's fingertips through mobile devices. More importantly, it can reduce costs."

Recently, Shanghai Re Medical signed a contract with a clinic in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in northwestern China. Other institutions and companies are testing the waters.

Contact the writer at liujie@chinadaily.com.cn