In the past seven years, CIIE has become a hub and launch platform for global innovative pharmaceuticals and advanced medical devices. These groundbreaking innovations in the pharmaceutical field have attracted significant attention due to their “high-tech” nature and the urgent needs of patients. As innovative biopharmaceutical breakthroughs continue to emerge globally, accelerating the “last mile” for innovative pharmaceuticals to reach patients and ensuring they benefit Chinese patients remains a key focus for all sectors of society.
On November 7, MediTrust Health, a pioneering company in the “Medicine, Pharmacy, Insurance” ecosystem model, took another significant step in innovative multi-layer payment. It’s launched a new platform solution—the “Diversified Payment Solutions Section”—on the Care2Pay, addressing the gap in patient access to innovative drugs, medical devices, and quality healthcare services. This platform provides a one-stop, comprehensive solution for multi-layer payment options, covering the entire process of finding medication, using it, and billing, and this fundamentally enhances patients’ access to high-quality healthcare. Moreover, the platform will initially feature over 200 new and specialty drugs, covering major diseases such as cancer, rare diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease.
The launch event of the Care2Pay was attended by Li Qi, Secretary of the Party Committee and Prospective General Manager of China Re Life, Li Yuxin, Secretary-General of Shanghai Insurance Association and Insurance Society of Shanghai, Zhang Xiaodong, Founder and CEO of MediTrust Health, and representatives from the first companies partnering the platform.
It’s emphasized by Zhang Xiaodong, Founder and CEO of MediTrust Health, that: “Accelerating the accessibility of innovative drugs is one of the most important issues in the pharmaceutical industry today. Whether it’s waiting for drugs or waiting for patients, both directly impact patient health benefits and influence the recognition and transformation of innovative pharmaceuticals. MediTrust Health has always been dedicated to becoming a platform-level company in the healthcare industry ecosystem. Through our multi-layer payment platform, we aim to bring together user needs, gather high-quality medical resources, improve efficiency with technology, and ultimately help patients manage costs, supporting the high-quality development of innovative pharmaceuticals and healthcare services.”
Payment+Services
Enhancing Patient Access to Innovative Drugs Across the Entire Chain
In recent years, China has continuously refined its multi-layered healthcare security system that features the “1+3+N” model. From local policies such as “Shanghai’s 28 Policy Measures” to national “full-chain” policy, and from healthcare reform in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors to the “Several Opinions on Strengthening Supervision, Preventing Risks and Promoting High-quality Development of the Insurance Industry (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions)” in the insurance industry, there is a growing consensus to harness the value of diversified payment in commercial health insurance. Expanding the inclusion of new drugs and technologies to improve accessibility has become a key objective. In this context, payment options outside of healthcare security have become increasingly diversified.
However, the traditional path for patients to access drugs is complex, and involves numerous steps across various sectors, including the pharmaceutical industry (drug manufacturers), healthcare providers (hospitals, doctors), payment processors, and retail (pharmacies). Patients also face a multi-tiered system, with varying hospital types (public, private, international) and payment entities (medical insurance, different commercial health insurance, city supplementary insurance in different cities, etc.). The complexity of this process often leaves non-professional patients confused and overwhelmed.
Care2Pay, developed by MediTrust Health, is a next-generation healthcare multi-layer payment platform that allows patients to scan a code at hospitals to complete direct-billing for outpatient or inpatient services. At pharmacies, the platform enables patients to collect medication from designated locations, offering a seamless, “scan-and-get” experience. All this upgrades the entire drug purchase and healthcare journey across multiple scenarios.
The newly-launched “Diversified Payment Section” focuses on improving payment and services for innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices, reshaping the accessibility of medications. It aggregates payment solutions beyond basic medical insurance, including city supplementary insurance, commercial health insurance, charitable drug donations, and financial installment plans. This provides a comprehensive solution to reduce medication expenses and greatly expands patients’ payment choices. Additionally, the platform offers a one-click claims service, making the process of insurance claims unprecedentedly convenient for insurance beneficiaries. The availability of direct-billing feature ensures that patients no longer need to pay the full cost upfront. Instead, they can pick up their medication by paying only the remaining balance after insurance reimbursement, allowing them to focus more on treatment and recovery rather than being plagued by financial burdens.
In addition, the platform also provides a wide range of drug-related services.For one thing, it breaks down information barriers, helping patients globally locate the medications they need, and addressing the challenge of “not knowing or finding the right drug”. Patients can easily access the necessary drug information and enjoy pharmacy delivery services, significantly streamlining the entire process from searching to using medication.
For another, it includes a broad scope of patient-care services, such as locating nearby pharmacies, booking specialist appointments, and recommending infusion center. These integrated services aim to create a seamless healthcare ecosystem, providing patients with comprehensive and attentive support in the face of illness.
Expansion of Diversified Payment Solutions
Building an Innovative Health Ecosystem Requires Multi-stakeholder Collaboration
The development of innovative pharmaceuticals is a move that comes with high investment, long cycle, and huge risk. The R&D cost of new and specialty drugs is substantial, and relying solely on basic medical insurance is clearly unsustainable, while having patients pay entirely out-of-pocket would lead to significant social problems, like “falling into poverty due to illness” or “relapsing into poverty due to illness”. As a result, it has gradually become a consensus in the industry that developing diversified payment mechanism and ensuring their effective integration with basic medical insurance to support the growth of innovative drugs.
At the launch event, numerous multinational and local pharmaceutical companies signed strategic cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding with MediTrust Health, and became the first companies to join the platform, including Daiichi Sankyo, Pfizer, Gilead, Roche, Novo Nordisk, Stryker, Eisai, Takeda, Abbott Laboratories, Huadong Medicine, Kelun-Biotech, Trinomab, IASO Bio, JW Therapeutics, and Zai Lab. These companies will bring their groundbreaking innovations to the platform, working alongside MediTrust Health and cross-industry partners to provide diversified and multi-tier healthcare solutions and services for patients in China.
As an aggregation service platform of commercial health insurance that empowers patients, the Care2Pay is an indication of another big step by MediTrust Health in pushing forward the integration of medical, pharmaceutical, and insurance industries, and building an innovation ecosystem of healthcare with the latest iteration. This update is designed to support patients’ multi-tiered healthcare needs and ensure they have access to adequate health protection.
It’s stated by Li Yuxin, Secretary-General of Shanghai Insurance Association and Insurance Society of Shanghai, that: “In September this year, the State Council issued the Opinions for the insurance industry, which specifically stressed the importance of extending insurance coverage to new healthcare technologies, new drugs, and new medical devices. In the future, we expect that, while basic medical insurance covers fundamental needs, the insurance industry will continue its efforts to ensure more innovative pharmaceuticals enter the market through commercial insurance and multi-tier payment solutions, fostering innovation and contributing to the development of the biopharmaceutical industry and the building of a healthy China.”
At the event, Jin Fangqian, vice-president of Gilead Sciences that is one of the first companies partnering the Care2Pay Platform, and the general manager for its China affiliate, remarked that: “Since Gilead began operations in China seven years ago, we have always focused on patients and continued to drive the acceleration of global innovative therapies to benefit domestic patients. Improving access to innovative pharmaceuticals has been one of the core priorities of our development strategy in China. With the opportunity provided by the CIIE, we look forward to forming powerful collaborations with all partners to ensure that innovative pharmaceuticals reach more patients faster and protect public health.”
Against the backdrop of the national initiative to establish a multi-tiered healthcare security system, the collaboration between the public and private sectors to create a “multi-party responsibility sharing, multi-layer payment” mechanism for innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices is imperative. Diversified payment solutions not only offer strong support for the public’s access to “new drugs, effective drugs, and specialty drugs”, but also foster innovation in the products and services of the insurance industry. This, in turn, encourages the pharmaceutical sector to enter a virtuous cycle of “high R&D investment—high market returns—high R&D investment”, becoming a new engine that drives industry development and upgrades.
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