National image services, a land grab in progress

Medical imaging is highly sought after. Medical imaging services are favored by the government, industry, and investors. According to a review by 36Kr Research Institute of investment and mergers and acquisitions from 2014 to July 2016, medical imaging accounted for 40 deals. Nearly 70% of medical imaging startups are still in their early stages of development, yet they have already received high financing amounts, mostly in the tens of millions and hundreds of millions. By the first half of 2018, 15 financing events had occurred in the medical imaging field, with 7 publicly disclosed events.

Financing Stages of Chinese Medical Imaging Startups

Financing Amounts of Chinese Medical Imaging Startups

Financing Time of Chinese Medical Imaging Startups

Medical Imaging Financing Situation in the First Half of 2018

The Chinese third-party medical imaging market can also be divided into two categories;

Remote Film Reading Service Model

Physical Third-Party Imaging Center Service Model

The medical imaging industry is favored by the industry and investors because emerging remote film reading and physical third-party imaging centers directly address the pain points of patients, doctors, and hospitals, making it a "promising field".

Pain Points and Solutions in Medical Imaging Services for Chinese Patients, Doctors, and Hospitals

Addressing the patients' difficulty in "seeing a doctor".China's medical resources are overly concentrated, resulting in high misdiagnosis rates in secondary and lower-level hospitals. Patients often need to transfer between multiple hospitals and repeat imaging examinations. At the same time, the waiting time for examinations in tertiary-level hospitals is too long. These factors lead to considerable dissatisfaction among patients with medical imaging services. Physical third-party imaging centers can provide patients with imaging services that differ from public hospitals, reducing patients' imaging examination costs and waiting time. Remote cloud platforms can connect high-level hospitals with primary hospitals or third-party imaging centers, helping primary-level patients to reduce travel and enabling them to receive treatment from high-level doctors remotely.

Addressing doctors' "overburden" and "lack of learning opportunities".Due to uneven resource distribution, doctors in the radiology departments of tertiary-level hospitals usually work overtime for extended periods. Fatigue from film reading can also reduce the accuracy of diagnosis and treatment. Primary-level radiology doctors, on the other hand, often lack a comprehensive knowledge system and experience and lack platforms for learning and improvement. Remote film reading platforms can connect artificial intelligence and senior radiology doctors, reasonably allocating film reading workloads to alleviate the problem of overwork in some secondary and tertiary hospitals and provide additional income for lower-paid radiologists. For primary-level hospital doctors, the remote film reading platform can provide film reading assistance, training platforms, and remote guidance from experts to improve diagnostic skills.

Addressing the "lack of equipment" in primary and grassroots hospitals.The country is actively promoting tiered diagnosis and treatment, and primary-level hospitals also hope to retain more patients. However, due to income, policy, and cost considerations, some county-level and primary-level hospitals lack the capacity to equip themselves with large-scale imaging equipment. Cooperative or regional primary third-party imaging centers can leverage economies of scale, concentrating patient imaging needs and assuming or replacing the role of the radiology department for smaller hospitals.

Addressing the "shortage of equipment" in secondary and tertiary hospitals.High-level hospitals have a high concentration of patients, including a high proportion of complicated and critical cases. However, the number and types of equipment are limited. Equipment like PET-CT requires application for permits, which takes a considerable amount of time and is subject to policy control. Therefore, secondary and tertiary hospitals often cannot meet clinical needs due to equipment shortages, leading to long patient waiting times and hindering access to better imaging services. High-end urban third-party imaging centers can provide timely services, share the imaging workload for hospitals, improve patient flow, and meet the needs of the high-end population.

Therefore, investors are optimistic not only about the huge demand for imaging driven by an aging population and evolving disease patterns but also about the imaginable potential unleashed by new medical imaging services that address the pain points of Chinese patients, doctors, and hospitals. With policy support, the medical imaging service industry has entered the fast lane.

Remote medical imaging film reading and case communication rely on the transmission of image information, enhancing communication with attending physicians, sharing examination results data, and facilitating access to files during referrals. The imaging workstation effectively addresses this shortcoming, providing convenience to hospitals, doctors, and patients by enabling quick access to examination results, facilitating film reading, file viewing, saving, and archiving, and improving the functionality of case query, statistics, and management. Guangzhou Rencheng Medical has stood out thanks to more than ten years of experience in medical equipment maintenance. Through cooperation with hospitals, they have clearly understood the needs of doctors. The developed imaging workstation can effectively serve hospitals, doctors, and patients. Rencheng Imaging Workstation is now recruiting nationwide agents and distributors and provides 24-hour After-sale Service. Welcome to contact us anytime.

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