A pilot medical care program in Chongqing is proving to be successful in providing health care services to residents that China is planning to expand it to 200 more Chinese cities in 2016.
The online-to-offline or O2O concept assures people who sign a contract of the availability of family doctors with the community health center round the clock. If someone is sick in the family, one does not have to go to the hospital and wait in line for a long time before being called for a few minutes of consultation with the doctor.
Instead, the family doctor program, started in 2012, provides residents who signed a contract customized medical services such as health management, disease prevention and regular physical examinations at home, reported China Daily. Made up of a general practitioner nurse and public health physician (and a pharmacist in some places), the family doctor team could handle most minor ailments.
However, patients with complications are registered and transferred to major medical centers via an internal fast-track system. The system makes it unnecessary for sick Chinese to consult the internet, said Fang Laiying, director of the Beijing Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission.
After the introduction of O2O in 200 Chinese cities, China plans to further expand it to the whole country by 2020.
Interest is high that in Shanghai, almost half of the city’s residents, or about 10.27 million people, joined the program, and paid mostly for by the government. Liu Wei, who signed contracts with a lot of Gumei households in the city, said those with contracts and covered by medical insurance pay about 10 yuan for a single home service, but medicines are excluded.
eMarketer reported that O2 services in China are being driven by mobile payment apps, particularly WeChat Pay and Alipay which enable payment and restrictionless shopping.