拿什么拯救中国的医疗应用？

拿什么拯救中国的医疗应用？

跟随着互联网+的发展潮流，中国的医疗应用市场曾一度出现欣欣向荣的局面，然而近年来对于这一行业的投资却日渐减少，各行业巨头纷纷宣布退出市场，隐藏在萧条的移动医疗终端市场背后的“罪魁祸首”究竟是谁？

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

encompass包含；包围，环绕；完成[ɪn'kʌmpəs]

straddle跨坐['stræd(ə)l]

private equity私募股权；私人股本

venture capital风险资本，风险投资

chronic慢性的；长期的；习惯性的['krɒnɪk]

sceptical怀疑的；怀疑论的['skeptɪk(ə)l]

spook 鬼；幽灵；惊吓；受惊[spuːk]

Investors begin to sour on Chinese health apps（725 words）

By Tom Hancock in Shanghai and Don Weinland in Hong Kong

Valued at $3bn in a funding round last year, Chinese healthcare app Ping An Good Doctor rode a wave of investment flooding the country's mobile medical sector. But investors are beginning to lose confidence in the ability of these companies to turn a profit.

China's more than 2,000 mobile healthcare apps encompassing medical advice, appointment booking and niche services are tapping into demand by offering convenience in a country where widespread distrust of clinics creates overcrowded hospitals.

Good Doctor, backed by insurance group Ping An, claims 27m active monthly users who receive up to 400,000 diagnoses in a day, although some analysts estimate users at closer to 20m. “Digital healthcare services are releasing some of the pressure on China's creaking healthcare system,” says founder Oliver Wang.

Straddling the healthcare and technology sectors, two of the hottest investment areas in China, hundreds of medical apps attracted private equity and venture capital funding last year.

While user numbers pale in comparison with the more than 800m of China's most frequently used mobile app, Tencent's WeChat, Good Doctor's rivals WeDoctor and Spring Rain Doctor joined the ranks of “unicorn” start-ups valued at more than $1bn.

Digital health start-ups in China have homed in on consumers long underserved by government-run facilities, in contrast with a focus by such start-ups in the US on developing technology for hospitals.

Chinese consumer demand for online health services is driven by a lack of trust in the lower levels of the public health system and sparse access to doctors particularly in rural areas. Lines at urban hospitals often stretch around the block as people come from poor areas to be seen by a physician, with places in the queue sometimes illegally scalped.

But regulations prevent companies from charging for booking hospital appointments, and limit apps to health advice rather than full consultations.

To make money, WeDoctor, founded by Tencent, has relied on advertising and referring patients to doctors, a service for which it can charge. It focuses on helping patients avoid queues by making appointments online. It claims more than 100m such bookings over the past two years and Rmb1.2bn ($175m) in revenue last year.

“It's much more convenient than visiting a hospital,” says Mr Mu, a supermarket owner from Zhejiang province near Shanghai, who used an app to find a specialist to treat his chronic stomach pain. “If not for the app, I would have no way of finding that doctor.”

However, investment in China's digital health industry dropped 10 per cent year on year in the last quarter of 2016 to $520m, after a 41 per cent decline in the previous three months, according to consultancy VC Beat.

“If you look at the user numbers it looks great, but if you ask who's paying it doesn't look so great,” says Florian Then, a Shanghai-based partner at McKinsey's healthcare practice.

Nisa Leung, managing partner at Qiming Venture Partners, which has backed WeDoctor, says: “We've invested in several of these companies but are still generally very sceptical of how most of the sector will generate revenues. Sustainability will be a big question mark.”

Last year, investors were spooked as a list circulated online of 27 medical apps that had closed after burning through their funding. Sentiment was further dented in recent weeks when internet giant Baidu said it was shutting down its mobile health unit and flagship app Baidu Doctor.

“In the current environment, it's increasingly advantageous to have a strong presence already in some part of the healthcare ecosystem,” says Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting.

Health start-ups have also pushed into consumer services, offering over-the-counter medicines or paid-for services such as Botox injections. “Online to offline sales … these things appear to work quite well,” adds McKinsey's Mr Then.

Regulatory risk is a further concern. There is some fear that officials could move to restrict medical apps if local interests are being harmed. The health sector is particularly sensitive: last year, Baidu recorded its worst quarterly earnings performance since 2007 after an investigation into advertisements on its search engine for private hospitals offering unnecessary treatments.

“There is not a regulator system telling you what you can and can't do in mobile health and that makes the market a big mystery,” says Ping An Good Doctor's Mr Wang. “You couldn't know when the government [is going to say] ‘no’.”