Directors from Chinese and American Hospitals Meet to Discuss Big Data Applications at Harvard Medical School

BOSTON, April 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- At this year's recently held National People's Congress and Chinese Political Consultative Conference (NPC & CPPCC), CPPCC national committee member and Chinese Academy of Engineering fellow Wu Yiling proposed that China shift the current focus on dealing with chronic diseases from treatment to prevention. "According to statistics collected by the World Health Organization, the incidence of chronic diseases is clearly related to the maturity of the local prevention and treatment systems. The incidence of major chronic diseases such as cardio-cerebrovascular disease in western developed countries is on the decline, while, during the last 10 years, the rates of morbidity and mortality related to cardio-cerebrovascular disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions in China continues to soar as the country's investment in the healthcare system in terms of the prevention and treatment of such diseases is neither sufficient nor complete. Wu pointed out that if we cannot bring the incidence of these diseases under control, they will become be a huge burden to Chinese society and to families across the nation, as well as adversely impact to significant degree China's plan for a full realization of the government's strategy for the overall betterment of the society at large.

The proposal is universally welcomed by both the domestic and foreign medical communities. The focus of discussions going on at Harvard Medical School is on how big data is a core component of the solution and how it can be leveraged to study the pathogenesis of each disease, how to better prevent and treat each disease as well as manage the related medical expenditure.

Co-hosted by Massachusetts Medical International Corporation (MMIC), the Association of Chinese American Physicians and the Harvard Medical School Chinese Scholars and Scientists Association, the Sino-US Hospital Directors 2015 Summit at Harvard was held from March 27^th to 30^th, 2015. The summit kicked off with discussions concerning translational medicine and the application of big data in hospital management, then moved on to the main themes of the latest global trends in biomedical research, the application of its technological achievements as well as the world's most advanced models for the management of a hospital.

Liang Yaoming, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kingmed Diagnostics, a leading independent Chinese provider of clinical and laboratory testing services, was invited to participate in the summit and delivered a keynote speech on the development of independent medical laboratories in China. Liang believes that China's huge population base can provide an endless stream of yet untapped data points. As China's largest independent medical testing provider, Kingmed Diagnostics has accumulated nearly 80 million specimens during the last 6 years. As the number of specimens continued to build, Kingmed Diagnostics realized the value of the application of big data in analyzing such a large collection, which, in turn, attracted a great deal of attention from medical practitioners.

At the same time, Liang disclosed that with the better application of big data of the healthcare system, the rapid development of genomics research and whole-genome sequencing technology as well as the development of Internet-mediated direct-to-consumer medical services, China's independent medical testing market is expanding rapidly, with the market value on track to reach 32 billion yuan in 2020.

Hospitals in China and America mining the potential of big data from information yielded by independent medical laboratories

The rapid modernization of collection methods of medical and healthcare information opened the door to big data applications. The next step, one that is drawing more and more attention, is how to use this information to improve hospital management as well as medical services, scientific research and education.

The Sino-US Hospital Directors 2015 Summit at Harvard currently has the highest profile and is considered the most authoritative among Sino-US health summits. Healthcare policy makers, top managers, hospital directors from leading healthcare facilities across the U.S. and China as well as healthcare industry experts, such as Partners HealthCare System chairman Dr. David F. Torchian and Economic Development Committee of the United Nations deputy director Simmon Chu, held in-depth discussions on several academic topics including, for both the US and Chinese healthcare systems, the development strategy for healthcare, the application of medical big data in hospitals and the best practice for hospital management.

Kingmed Diagnostics, the sole Chinese independent medical laboratories at the summit, caught the attention of all parties. Kingmed Diagnostics delivered a keynote speech at the "Best Practice for Hospital Management" section. Served as a necessary supplement to current healthcare resources, the independent laboratories have received wide attention and acclaim from professional peers worldwide. The independent laboratories have already been applying big data technologies to data collection and biobank building, and the potential that this big data can provide is being watched seriously by hospital practitioners.

Because of the enormous advantage of scales, the independent laboratories have a huge number of testing data gathered, including patients with different types of disease, different locations, gender and age. Analyzing the data can help to explore and understand the pathogenesis, the trends of disease incidence and effectiveness of different treatments, ultimately playing an active role in disease prevention, treatment and monitoring.

Liang explained that during the last six years, Kingmed Diagnostics has collected nearly 80 million of specimens, and their laboratories test about 40,000-50,000 specimens a day. Since 2008, the number of annual specimens analyzed has increased by more than 50%, By cooperating with more than 16,000 medical institutions, Kingmed provide diagnostic service to a population of 1.3 billion in more than 30 provinces.

Kingmed Diagnostics is looking for partnership opportunities with the international and domestic institutions who are interested in big data research and application. At the summit, Liang revealed that the company hopes to find cooperation opportunities in genomics, tele-medicine, mobile health, big data and personalized medicine as well as in related areas. To provide tangible value that can serve for disease monitoring and better healthcare, Kingmed Diagnostics is actively extracting the medical value from big data, an important milestone on the way to the beneficial use of big data across China's healthcare sector.

China's independent laboratory market has developed rapidly

According to available data, on a global scale, independent medical testing laboratories account for 38%, 50% and 67% of the market share in North America, Europe and Japan respectively, while only accounting for a 2% share in China.  The huge market potential in the underserved country is waiting for exploration.

At the summit Liang said that China's aging population, urbanization and the expansion of health insurance coverage is fostering the acceleration of growth of the independent laboratory market. Liberalization of the market, encouraged private investment on healthcare, the development of private hospitals, the optimized healthcare resource allocation and the cost-efficiency controls of hospitals further stimulate the development of such market. The application of big data of healthcare systems, development of genomics and whole-genome sequencing and the development of Internet-mediated direct-to-consumer medical services, all contribute to the scalability of the independent laboratory market. According to Kingmed Diagnostics' internal data modeling, by 2020 China's independent laboratory market scale will be worth 32 billion yuan ($5.15 billion). Currently the top 5 providers account for 76% of the entire independent laboratory market, with Kingmed Diagnostics in the lead.  

With independent diagnostic testing service as the main business, Kingmed Diagnostics also provide other services including clinical trials, physical examinations, food and hygiene testing, scientific research services, judicial authentication as well as Internet-mediated direct-to-consumer medical services. Kingmed owns 23 provincial central labs, and now offers more than 1600 tests. It provides diagnostic services to 1.3 billion of population across China by collaborating with more than 16,000 medical institutions in 30 provinces, and tests nearly 30 million specimens annually. In 2014, the company achieved revenues of 1.855 billion yuan, up 32.3% from a year earlier. The immense database of medical information is drawing the attention of industry leaders who see how the analysis of the data can serve to improve hospital management and enhance disease prevention and control. Liang revealed, with another 4 new provincial laboratories coming on stream soon, Kingmed Diagnostics will leverage its network of soon to be 27 provincial laboratories to comprehensively examine and start the build out of innovative businesses related to the application of medical big data.

SOURCE Kingmed Diagnostics