[Expert Interview] Liu Ming: Creating a New Benchmark for "Standardized" Orthopedic Diagnosis and Treatment

From Beijing to Foshan, Liu Ming, a native of Shandong, has traversed over two thousand kilometers and three decades on his medical journey, with tens of thousands of patients regaining a new lease on life through his hands.

At forty, one is free from doubts; at fifty, one knows the will of heaven. At the age of forty-eight, Liu Ming chose to leave the 305th Hospital of the People's Liberation Army to carve out his own path in a private hospital. At fifty-one, he devoted himself to the construction of HeYou Hospital, aiming to transform this new hospital, which carries the hopes of countless patients, into a new benchmark for "standardized" orthopedic diagnosis and treatment, rapidly establishing the reputation of HeYou Orthopedics in the Greater Bay Area.

Director of Orthopedics at the 305th Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, President of Chongqing Weiyi Orthopedic Hospital, Director of Orthopedics at the Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Center of HeYou Hospital... Liu Ming's identity has been constantly changing, but what remains unchanged is his benevolent heart as a physician and his spirit of seeking innovation and change on the path to quality healthcare.

Liu Ming analyzes a patient's condition. Photo courtesy of HeYou Hospital

A Surgeon Decides to Go South at a Construction Site

Liu Ming is a renowned orthopedic expert in China. He served as the Director of Orthopedics at the 305th Hospital of the People's Liberation Army from 2010, while also holding positions on the Hospital Evaluation and Accreditation Committee of the Chinese Hospital Association, the Professional Committee of Orthopedics of the People's Liberation Army, and other important medical social organizations. He has participated in numerous major scientific research projects under the Ministry of Science and Technology and the military.

However, Liu Ming was unwilling to stop at becoming a "famous doctor" in the traditional sense. "I don't like a life that I can see the end of at a glance." His innate pursuit of innovation and creation always prompted him to try to bring some changes to the relatively "conservative" medical industry.

On the day the personnel department informed him that he was eligible for retirement, the forty-eight-year-old Liu Ming immediately left the 305th Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, where he had worked for many years, and went to Chongqing to serve as the President of Weiyi Orthopedic Hospital.

During his three years as President of Weiyi Orthopedic Hospital, Liu Ming performed 300 major surgeries (Grade III and above) annually, rapidly enhancing the reputation of this private specialist hospital and earning the trust of numerous patients.

In April 2022, HeYou Hospital launched a global overseas talent recruitment initiative. Liu Ming was invited to Foshan and saw HeYou Hospital in Beijiao, Shunde, for the first time.

HeYou Hospital is planned and constructed according to the national standards for Grade III Class A general hospitals and international quality certification systems. The total planned construction area is 580,000 square meters, and it is expected to be operational by June 2024.

At the bustling construction site of HeYou Hospital, Liu Ming, then President of Chongqing Weiyi Orthopedic Hospital, made a decision: to come to HeYou and serve as the Director of Orthopedics at the Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Center.

An Orthopedic Expert from a "Medical Family"

Liu Ming's father was also a surgeon, and his sister, brother-in-law, and other family members are all medical professionals.

The forceps in his left hand and the needle holder in his right hand coordinated skillfully in the air, like a well-paced, rhythmic dance. In Liu Ming's childhood memories, his father, like Dr. Zaizen from the Japanese drama "The White Tower," would immerse himself in repeatedly rehearsing surgical movements before any major operation.

"There wasn't much fun at home when I was a child, so I followed my father's example and practiced surgical movements, like surgical knotting. I was already very familiar with these things at a very young age," Liu Ming said. More importantly, his father's "empty cup" mentality and steady style of conduct took root in his heart.

In 1993, Liu Ming graduated from medical school, and two years later, he was already performing surgeries as the lead surgeon. He subsequently worked at the 88th, 301st, and 305th Hospitals of the People's Liberation Army, accumulating extensive clinical experience from tens of thousands of orthopedic surgeries.

Liu Ming still remembers a patient named Dandan (pseudonym), a 13-year-old girl with severe spinal deformity. Her thoracic spine was almost twisted and folded to 180 degrees, and the curved spine compressed her heart and lungs, making it difficult for her to breathe.

After understanding the condition, Liu Ming led his team to decisively accept the case, performing a month and a half of fixed corrective traction and an eight-hour high-difficulty spinal surgery for Dandan.

"After years of compression, the patient's internal organs and blood vessels cannot adapt to the new environment if we rush into surgical correction, which could induce danger. Therefore, we cannot only consider orthopedics but must design a comprehensive treatment plan."

After the surgery, Dandan's height increased from 1.26 meters to about 1.47 meters, finally realizing her dream of standing straight and walking normally.

The happiness of the patient is also the happiness of the doctor. This solid sense of achievement is Liu Ming's greatest motivation for diligent work on the medical path. "My father's style has greatly influenced me. Before every surgery, like my father, I must review the atlas. Even if I am very proficient, I still prepare meticulously and conscientiously."

Building a Standardized and Transparent Medical System

"Standardization" is an obsession that Liu Ming cannot let go of. In 2001, when Liu Ming went to Germany to study artificial joint surgery and postoperative rehabilitation, he discovered that German hospitals provided patients with a consistent and controllable medical experience through strict clinical pathway management.

Under the traditional medical model, each doctor has their own "pathway" for treating patients. For the same disease and the same patient, three different doctors can provide three different medical experiences, easily causing confusion or misunderstanding for the patient and even triggering many problems.

"I have always guided myself with a standardized mindset to improve my clinical work," Liu Ming said. "I hope to leverage the large platform of HeYou Hospital to make clinical pathways more standardized, ensuring that every patient can receive the same high-quality medical experience at HeYou."

Within the framework of the "Attending Physician Responsibility System and Station-Based Management" established by HeYou Hospital, Liu Ming breaks down clinical work such as medical care, nursing, and surgery into hundreds of quantifiable steps according to the timeline.

"Taking knee replacement as an example, I have broken it down into over 680 steps, and I have set checkpoints at each step node," Liu Ming said. Highly detailed clinical work, on the one hand, helps improve the patient's medical experience, and on the other hand, facilitates talent development and medical process monitoring, providing underlying support for hospital efficiency management and automated management.

"In recent years, everyone says that the doctor-patient relationship is prone to tension, and most of it is due to communication problems," Liu Ming stated. Many patients' anxiety during medical visits stems from too many unknowns, not knowing what to do next.

To create a transparent medical experience, it is essential to share information with patients, reduce information asymmetry, and prevent conflicts at the source. Medical "standardization," in addition to facilitating quality control, also helps lower the communication barrier with patients.

Polishing HeYou Orthopedics with Advantageous Diseases

After twenty-five years of immersion in renowned public hospitals and three years of navigating the private medical sector, the core reason HeYou Hospital captivated Liu Ming at first sight was its positioning as a non-profit hospital.

From its inception, HeYou Hospital was clearly positioned as a non-profit hospital, with a commitment that all future operating surpluses will be used for the hospital's own development, medical research, and social welfare. The hospital's outpatient and inpatient services will be integrated into the medical insurance system to ensure that ordinary people have access to high-level medical services.

"Healthcare is different from general business. You can't tell a patient to try a surgery first and switch to another if it doesn't work. This is the biggest challenge for private hospitals," Liu Ming said. HeYou Hospital has not been established for long, but its management team maintains an open mindset and is adept at listening to the opinions of professionals, which gives him great confidence in HeYou's future.

Now, Liu Ming treats the hospital as his "home," fully dedicating himself to the work at HeYou Hospital.

"HeYou has gathered a group of top medical talents. Working with such a vibrant team makes every day substantial. This also fills me with confidence in HeYou's future," Liu Ming said.

The Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Center is one of the six "Centers of Excellence" that HeYou Hospital plans to focus on. As the head of the center's orthopedics department, Liu Ming often feels pressure, but greater than the pressure is the ambition to create a new career.

Currently, Liu Ming is working to promote the development of medical products centered around diseases, aiming to rapidly establish the reputation of HeYou Hospital's orthopedics department by cultivating advantageous diseases.

"Compared to the 'specialty-centered' model, the 'disease-centered' model is more suitable for the current development needs of private hospitals," Liu Ming said. "For example, for shoulder pain, knee pain, and low back pain clinics, by integrating diagnosis, treatment, evaluation, and follow-up, we can package these diseases into flagship products. Our earlier standardization of treatment has laid a solid foundation for this closed loop."

From the pursuit of medical excellence to the introduction of institutional processes, and then to the creation of a hospital model, the long-termism in the professional field and the pioneering spirit of seeking innovation and change are harmoniously unified in Liu Ming. We also see, in the current wave of medical innovation, the growth and reflection of a medical expert from professional pursuit to industry exploration.

■Notes

Infusing High-Quality Healthcare with More Humanistic Care

Text by Liu Ming

From the perspective of the long river of history, a finite life is but a moment. I believe that from this perspective, the length of life is only one aspect; what matters more is the quality of life. The role of a hospital is to improve the quality of life, allowing people to live more brilliantly and healthily within their limited lifespan.

For a hospital, so-called quality healthcare must first return to its essence. What is the essence of healthcare? It is to cure the disease. First and foremost, you must be able to treat the disease effectively. This is the foundation and the core. This is where the intrinsic value of "Upholding Integrity and Dedication, Protecting Life" lies. No matter how good the service is, it is useless if the disease cannot be cured. This is a matter of putting the cart before the horse.

Specifically, to improve medical quality, the first step is to refine the internal processes of medical care, which is the proposition of clinical pathway standardization that I have always advocated.

Secondly, on the basis of treating the disease well, we should then optimize the service. This is a bonus point.

In service, what is the most important thing? It is to treat the patient as an equal during the medical process and to show them full respect. This is very important. All services should be based on respect. By releasing enough humanistic care and showing enough respect in the process of treating and saving lives, the patient's feelings will naturally be good.

It should be noted that the service I refer to is not just "smile service," but the service throughout the entire medical process, which must be closely tied to the overarching proposition of "standardization and transparency in healthcare."