With the opening of Internet prescription drug sales, the internet medical link will be further completed.
On January 26, according to the national development and Reform Commission, the “opinions on some special measures to relax market access for Shenzhen to build a leading demonstration zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics” was officially issued and implemented a few days ago. The contents mainly include six areas, including 24 specific measures.
In the medical field, Internet prescription drug sales will be carried out on a pilot basis. Specifically, Shenzhen Electronic Prescription center will be established (providing third-party information services for prescription drug sales institutions). For prescription drugs listed and sold in China, except for drugs banned by the state on the Internet, other drugs are allowed to be sold on the Internet by relying on the electronic prescription center, which will not be approved separately. Shenzhen e-prescription center connects Internet hospitals, prescription systems of Shenzhen medical institutions, various prescription drug sales platforms, Guangdong national medical insurance information platform, payment and settlement institutions, commercial insurance institutions to realize the unified collection of prescription related information and the “one network” of prescription drug purchase, information security certification, medical insurance settlement and other matters, Explore the use of digital RMB for transaction settlement. Shenzhen Electronic Prescription center and relevant departments in Shenzhen should formulate detailed work plans, strengthen the management of high-risk drugs, and implement the responsibilities of relevant subjects such as network security, information security and personal information protection. Blockchain and quantum information technology are used to realize Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co.Ltd(300959) linkage supervision, whole process tracing of drug flow and safe data storage. Shenzhen e-prescription center has realized information interconnection and mutual recognition with Hainan and other e-prescription centers that have been approved for pilot projects.
Previously, Alibaba health, JD health and other internet pharmaceutical platforms sold over-the-counter drugs in accordance with the regulations. OTC drug sales are the key business of some internet medical platforms. Taking JD health as an example, according to the financial report of JD health in the first half of 2021, the commodity income (sales of medicine and health products) of JD health supports the overall revenue, accounting for 86.2% of the total revenue, and the service income only accounts for 13.8% of the total revenue.
In this regard, pan Helin, executive director of the Digital Economy Research Institute of Central South University of economics and law, told first finance that the pilot is good for the Internet health platform. The entry of prescription drugs into Internet sales is the basis for the future promotion of telemedicine and can provide more convenience for patients to buy drugs. At the same time, the pilot sale of Internet prescription drugs is also the key system for the business expansion of Internet health platform in the future. At present, there are still some regulatory problems in online sales of prescription drugs. We hope to solve these regulatory problems through pilot exploration.
Selling prescription drugs on the Internet is also a part of online medicine. Pan Helin said that for the Internet hospital, the direct prescription of doctors can promote the separation of Medicine on the one hand, and make the prescription of doctors more convenient to implement when the Internet hospital provides medical services on the other hand. In this way, the online medical link is complete for the Internet health service. For internet pharmaceutical e-commerce, online access of prescription drugs has expanded its sales scope and diversified its sales categories.
The above experts said that the implementation of this pilot also lies in supervision and medical insurance. The reason why prescription drugs are separated from drugs is precisely for the purpose of supervision and can not be abused. Therefore, the supervision needs to continue to follow up. For medical insurance, online purchase not only improves the convenience of drug purchase, but also poses a challenge to medical insurance underwriting.
Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry of Broadcom consulting, said that at present, there is only one pilot in Shenzhen, and the effect needs to be evaluated according to the follow-up pilot progress. But the pilot is a good start. The ceiling of the internet medical market is improving. For the online sales of drugs, it is still necessary to implement strict management.
