On May 7 during the 9^th China Hospital CEO Conference, BAHEAL Smart Tech, as a leading player in China’s new information-based medical care, held a summit forum on artificial intelligence which was entitled “Smart Hospitals with Super Doctors” & meeting for the promotion of Watson Health to hospitals in China and Watson for Oncology, an intelligent assistant of doctors specialized in oncology, will be available to all Chinese hospitals.

According to the plan, Watson for Oncology will be introduced to 150 Tier-III regional and municipal general hospitals within one year with corresponding doctor training programs prepared. According to WANG Biquan, Chief Marketing Officer of BAIHEAL Smart Tech, a large number of hospitals have delivered their intent on cooperation and, based on current market response, Watson for Oncology will be introduced to hospitals at a far higher speed and larger scale than as expected.

Watson Health Will Bring about a Full-range Reform to Hospitals and Greatly Improve Efficiency and Profits of Hospitals

Watson has been operating hospitals that are globally advanced in cancer treatment. In mid-August 2016, Watson Health announced its entry into China; on March 28, 2017, Watson Health entered into an agreement with BAHEAL Smart Tech under BAHEAL Pharmaceutical Group in Beijing and by which, Watson for Oncology will access the Chinese market.

In no more than a month afterwards, Watson for Oncology was simultaneously introduced via BAHEAL Smart Tech to two government-funded Tier-III hospitals in Qingdao, namely, Qingdao Municipal Hospital and the Affiliated Hospital to Qingdao University, which, with the establishment of “Watson Smart Oncologic Consultation Center” and “Watson International Oncologic Therapeutic Center”, will provide optimal diagnostic and therapeutic solutions to the patients, improve the diagnostic and therapeutic competence of the doctors as well as the competitiveness of the hospitals and further reinforce the basis for the construction of smart hospitals.

“In fact, the demand of patients with cancer for confirmed treatment protocols and health conditions is extraordinarily strong. Many patients would prefer to seek treatment in hospitals in Tier-I cities or even abroad after being treated locally or before the identification of the disease. The introduction of top-notch AI technology to local Tier-III hospitals can save unnecessary medical expenditure for the patients and avoid their running about everywhere for better medical treatment. Seeing from this standpoint, the hospitals will be more trustworthy to the patients, and the patients will be more closely connected with the doctors and hospitals,” said DING Huamin, Secretary of CPC Committee at Qingdao Municipal Hospital.

According to FU Gang, Chairman of BAHEAL Pharmaceutical Group and BAHEAL Smart Tech, artificial intelligence has promoted the evolution of medical care from evidence-based medicine to cognitive medicine; the introduction of Watson’s AI technology and the establishment of Watson cancer centers will bring about a full range of reforms to hospitals.

First of all, Watson cancer centers will help make people feel that the hospital is advanced in cancer treatment. With Watson’s fame and authoritativeness in the field of cancer treatment, the influence of the hospital in the treatment of cancer will be expanded and a synchronic development of the hospital with the world’s top cancer centers in cancer treatment will be achieved. Moreover, Watson can help the hospital establish patient-oriented cancer treatment modes and processes and improve the quality of medical care.

Secondly, Watson cancer centers will bring more profits to and greatly improve the efficiency of hospitals. As differentiated treatment and better treatment results will attract more patients to the hospitals, make hospitals and doctors more trustworthy to patients, patients and hospitals are more closely connected, prevent loss of patients and thus improving medical efficiency and operating profits.

Further, Watson cancer centers will help strengthen the training of young doctors. As Watson’s therapeutic solutions as well as therapeutic recommendations and unadvisable treatment protocols are proposed based on evidences, such as cases and experience from top cancer treatment centers in the world with corresponding reasons attached, which are exceedingly helpful to improve the competence of young doctors.

Last but not the least, the cancer centers will promote cooperation among multiple disciplines. Multidisciplinary consultation centers will be established in hospitals along with the introduction of Watson and a wealth of successful therapeutic cases will surely provide more materials and references for the consultation, facilitate targeted case studies, promote communication among multiple oncologic disciplines in the hospital and improve the efficiency in multidisciplinary consultation.

In fact, what it means to hospitals to choose Watson Health’s products with BAHEAL Smart Tech as the agent will be very different from their choosing other businesses on the market. Firstly, in respect of the scope of cooperation with IBM, BAHEAL enjoys the right to cooperate in all product lines of Watson Health instead of just Watson for Oncology or the first component of Watson for Oncology; Secondly, in promotion, BAHEAL has obtained the right to act as an agent and distributor of the products, which means BAHEAL may not only promote the products on its own but also handle distribution through other institutions; thirdly, in the allocation of resources, BAHEAL works as an ecosphere with synergies not only in resources but also in tools; and fourthly, by cooperation, IMB will provide BAHEAL Smart Tech with best services.

Smart Medical Care Has Become a New Notion to Facilitate Hospital Management in China

To seek innovation in reform has been and will always be an issue a medical institution will face to seek development. In face of the development of knowledge economy and the great changes resulted from economic globalization, profound change has taken place in the external environment for hospitals to survive and develop, which makes it essential to change traditional models, methods and means for hospital management and causes hospital management to undergo revolutionary changes. Under the circumstance of the new medical reform, overall management of hospitals needs improving, it is time to develop smart medical care so as to maximize the social benefits and economic profits of hospitals.

Chief Medical Officer LIN Zhenkun of BAHEAL Smart Tech said that there was too much noise in the domain of hospital information and that it was an important issue worth discussing how to achieve online and offline integration and how hospitals should select proper information technologies to fulfill a jump in improving hospital management. Currently, China’s hospital management is facing several major pain points, including poor integration of hospital systems, lack of support for doctor decisions, low efficiency in operation management, unreasonable income structure and uneven distribution of resources. The integration of IT with the resources, technologies and talents of the medical industry will fully solve these pain points and bring about revolutionary changes to hospital management.

“Information technology is a historical opportunity in this epoch. The medical system in China needs ‘a promotion of medical IT’ to improve the level of China’s medical services,” said FU Gang at the conference. More specifically, there are three criteria for medical IT: SAAS-oriented software to integrate isolated information resources in the medical sector and accomplish perfect upgrading of IT-based systems among hospitals, clinics and drugstores; mobile HIS systems for full-range improvement in medical efficiency by means of medical management tools, such as linking to cloud platforms for extended diagnostic and therapeutic services as far as hospitals are concerned; IT-based decision, with top-notch AI solutions as an important part to build up “smart hospitals with super doctors”.

Upon cooperation between the hospitals and BAHEAL Smart Tech in the future, opportunities are also available for hospitals to cooperate with Watson Health in more products, such as genomics and imaging, among others, besides Watson for Oncology; BAHEAL Smart Tech will also provide more ports for doctors to enable smoother use of the systems and avoid the risk of declined speed due to increased number of users in the future.

Distinguished guests at the opening ceremony for the promotion of Watson Health to hospitals in China