China’s health insurance market is characterised by two opposing forces, nearly universal coverage by public health insurance, yet widespread dissatisfaction with public hospitals and patients still contribute out-of pocket sums that can easily add up to several times average incomes. Acknowledging the shortcomings, the government is turning to a tried and tested solution. The private sector. One segment that is playing an increasingly important role in transforming healthcare in China is made up of digital health apps, focusing on everything from real time doctor–patient consultation to chronic disease management platforms such as diabetes and hepatitis B management. This month The Digital Insurer looks at three of China’s most innovative MedTech startups, those that are marrying MedTech innovations with digital insurance.
Dnurse
China now has 100 million diabetics, most of whom are still undiagnosed. In light of this, a multitude diabetes management apps have emerged including Dnurse, a portable blood glucose meter and insulin pen that is the first CE approved smart glucose meter in China. Amid an array of diabetes management apps here, two key innovations have marked out Dnurse. The first is an AI driven recommendation engine called the IDSS (Intelligent Decision Supporting System). The IDSS utilizes the processing power of smartphones and Dnurse operated cloud servers to analyse blood glucose levels and insulin dosages in real time in order to deliver personalised recommendations to users. The IDSS also integrates with both the patient and doctor Dnurse app, which enables seamless doctor-patient communication and minimises the response time in cases of seizure or overdose.
The second innovation at Dnurse is Insulink, an insulin dosage monitor which records insulin dosages automatically and uploads dosage data to the Dnurse platform to help diabetics efficiently manage their treatment routine and blood glucose levels.
Additionally, Insulink integrates with the Dnurse app to record glucose levels, insulin dosages, dietary intake, physical activity, and blood pressure. All data is then analysed by Dnurse and reports to both the patient and user designated doctors if required. These actions by Dnurse have not gone unnoticed by China’s health and life insurers. Specifically, Taikang Life recently partnered with Dnurse to launch a diabetes product called ‘Sweet Life’. Dnurse, as the key enabler, is providing its hardware/software to help policy holders improve their diabetes self-management and compliance, which lowers the loss ratio for diabetes related claims in addition to preventing the onset of diabetes related complications.
LiverCloud
Unlike many developed countries in the world, in China hepatitis B is endemic. Approximately one-third of worldwide cases are reported in China and 9.8% of the population are at risk of premature death from HBV-related liver cancer or cirrhosis. Again, a range of digital solutions have emerged to both manage and prevent hepatitis B. One of these is Liver Cloud, a Beijing based startup with a particular focus on liver diseases. Specifically, Liver Cloud’s range of non-invasive diagnostic products is being coupled with a medical history and weight management app to promote a broader health/wellness agenda to minimise the contraction of hepatitis B. Liver Cloud has embraced a two pronged approach, the first is a digital health app that offers an end to end healthcare service. Key features include:
- My medical records
- Red envelope activities
- Exercise routine
- Doctor consultation
- Cholestrol measurements
- Body Mass Index monitoring
Additionally, Liver Cloud is delving even further into MedTech hardware with a new ICG (indocyanine green) detection device designed for hepatitis B carriers. This device provides non-invasive fluorescent imaging of the liver and heart and is synced with the Liver Cloud front-end app.
Key features include:
- Minimally-invasive screening with ICG (indocyanine green) injected into the body to quickly quantify the potential for liver function status.
- Simple to use real-time reporting and improved accuracy.
iCarbonX
Targeted medicine and DNA profiling has long been heralded as the future of healthcare. However, even the most advanced genomic mapping still offers only subtle hints as to an individual’s susceptibility to certain diseases. Although US based 23andme and SomaLogic have made impressive steps in the field, China’s iCarbonX is currently pioneering an all encompassing genomic platform based on a combination of an individual’s biological, behavioural and psychological data. Just two years old, iCarbonX has already attracted over $200m USD and its new Meum app – meaning ‘my’ in Latin – gives users a personalised online dashboard to help them understand their current health metrics (including potential disease onset and trajectory). The Meum app also relies on a robust database of meaningful health and life-related big data, including genetics, molecular profiles, phenotype and behavior data as well as other indexes. In future the platform will be available globally to consumers and potential solution providers.
Ultimately, iCarbonX clearly dovetails with the life and health insurer vision of proactive, rather than reactive healthcare. To this end, health and life insurers are increasingly interested in how genomic data will highlight how variances in biological molecules correlate with healthy or diseased cells. To this end, iCarbonX has partnered with several life insurers including China Life and Tencent For example, iCarbonX recently analysed 1,130 DNA profiles to predict which subset of heart-attack patients would have a recurrence by measuring the activity of nine blood proteins from various tissues to provide a more accurate and actionable picture of someone’s health. Ultimately, the success of the DNA profiling will depend on a user’s readiness to submit data and heed the advice the app gives.
Conclusion: Within less than 10 years, appox 900 million Chinese citizens have been enrolled in various public health insurance schemes. Â Now, health insurers, private clinics and digital health apps are readying themselves for a new era of healthcare in China. Although the above examples exhibit the most advanced efforts in the fields of chronic disease management and preventative healthcare, advances in sensors and wearables indicate that the long awaited personalised healthcare era is on the horizon.