Doctors from UDM, a physician group focusing on diabetes and metabolic disease, work at an ambulatory surgery center of Tencent Trusted Doctors, a merger between Tencent's medical unit Doctorwork and Shanghai-based startup Trusted Doctors. (Photo provided to China Daily)
Rising number of independent practitioners hope to increase their incomes and offer patients better medical treatment
In 2013, when he resigned from the prestigious Shanghai East Hospital as director of its vascular surgery department, Zhang Qiang, then 47 years old, was well known for his medical expertise and kindness to patients, earning him the moniker "Doctor Smile".
He made the decision to exit the public hospital system and become an independent practitioner in the hope of providing better treatment to patients and earning a higher income.
Today, Zhang is not only a vascular surgeon, but also the founder and head of Dr. Smile Medical Group, China's first group medical practice, which he established in Shanghai in July 2014.
Back then, group practices, in which doctors partner together to offer medical services to patients and share operational costs, was a fairly new concept in China.
But in many other countries such as the United States, group medical practices are common for doctors who work independently instead of being employed by hospitals.
Since 2014, group practices have sprung up across China, and many established doctors have left hospitals to start their own practices.
A recent example is Zhou Yuehua, one of the most acclaimed eye surgeons in China, who made headlines when he left the reputed Beijing Tongren Hospital at the end of 2018 and founded Zhou Yuehua Myopic Doctor Group in Beijing.
"Leaving the public medical system gives me more room to pursue my dream career, and I hope to sign the best eye doctors to provide the best medical service," Zhou said.
About 1,090 group practices had been established by the end of 2018 in China, and nearly 700 are registered in Shenzhen in Guangdong province, where government policies are more supportive than in other places, according to a report jointly released recently by Vistamed, a healthcare industry publication, and a private hospital management research institute affiliated to the China hospital development institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Analysis of 20 of the top 100 group medical practices showed most of the founders are specialist doctors who used to work in top-level public hospitals, and more than half of the CEOs are doctors, according to the report.
