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Mission

Prosper as a Cross-Cultural Company by Providing Leading Edge Healthcare Technologies, Quality Products and Services to China’s Professional Communities with Pride.

History

Chindex was founded in 1981 by Roberta Lipson and Elyse Beth Silverberg, two young American women who had moved to China in the late 1970s, following re-establishment of diplomatic and commercial relations between the US and China, to establish a cross-cultural bridge in the early days of China’s commercial opening to the West.  Their vision was to bring all varieties of advanced Western healthcare technologies to China and provide excellent customer service to buyers and suppliers alike.  Their motivation went well beyond the bottom line, to improving the lives of Chinese people.

Chindex has undergone many transitions and adaptations over its 29-year history, but has always stayed true to this vision, and has led the Company to what it has become today: the premier American healthcare company in China.

Scope

Chindex is comprised of two business divisions.

The Healthcare Services Division consists of the Company’s Western-style hospital network, United Family Healthcare (UFH). The first UFH hospital in Beijing commenced operations in late 1997, and is still the only facility of its kind in Beijing. UFH operations in Shanghai commenced services in 2004. In accordance with Chinese regulations governing foreign-invested healthcare facilities, both UFH hospitals are contractual joint ventures with local Chinese partners. UFH facilities in Beijing and Shanghai currently consist of a full-service acute care hospital with on-site outpatient clinics in each city, with two satellite clinics in Beijing and one satellite clinic in Shanghai, providing patients with a full range of inpatient and outpatient services.  Chindex expanded into its third major market with the opening of a clinic in Guangzhou in 2009, with plans to expand operations into a full-service hospital in 2012.   In addition, UFH provides management services to a clinic in Wuxi, a major metropolitan area close to Shanghai.

Chindex is a recognized pioneer in the field of private healthcare services in China, and continues to introduce new paradigms in the industry, as in September 2006 when UFH announced the first premium commercial health insurance product available to Chinese nationals in China. The insurance product plan was developed by FESCO IB Insurance Brokerage Company Ltd. and utilizes UFH’s hospital and clinic network as its preferred medical service provider.  In addition, in 2005, Beijing United Family Hospital and Clinics was the first integrated health system in Asia to receive accreditation by the Joint Commission International, the worldwide leader in improving the quality of healthcare.  The UFH operations in Shanghai received similar accreditation in 2008, placing UFH’s multi-city healthcare network in an elite group of the best healthcare providers in the world that have the JCI ‘Gold Seal of Approval’.

The demand for international-standard healthcare services in China continues to increase due to a growing Chinese upper-middle class and the influx of Western people, influences and concepts, along with the mounting ability of Chinese citizens to afford better healthcare services. The liberalization of the insurance industry will provide expanded access to health insurance products for Chinese citizens allowing more access to premium healthcare services such as UFH.

As the leading private hospital corporation in China, Chindex plans to continue its growth in healthcare services through expansion of the UFH network. Market expansion plans are underway in each geographic market.  In Beijing, service offerings will be significantly expanded during 2010 through doubling the size and bed count of the existing hospital campus as well as the opening of additional affiliated clinics and the New Hope Center for Special Services.  In Shanghai, expansion projects are expected to include increased services at the current hospital cmpus and the opening of additional facilities over the coming years.  In Guangzhou, the clinic will continue to expand its service offerings while the full service hospital is expected to open in 2012.  The new and expanded facilities in Guangzhou and Beijing, respectively, will be several times larger than the current facilities in Beijing and Shanghai, targeting the growing segment of affluent Chinese families in the major urban centers in China. 

The Medical Products Division (MPD) has been active in the marketing, distribution and service of medical capital equipment and instrumentation in mainland China since the Company’s founding in 1981. In the mid-1990s the business expanded to include Hong Kong. Today, Chindex has the ability to conduct this business both through U.S. dollar contracts to the Chinese hospital system, and through local currency transactions to hospitals and dealers utilizing the Company’s distribution services platform, which operates through Chindex wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries. The business is supported by company offices in the United States and Germany. 

The business of MPD is conducted through numerous marketing, sales and factory-trained service teams, with decades of industry-specific expertise.  Sales and service teams operate nationally in the mainland market and a dedicated local team services the Hong Kong market. Chindex’s direct sales force in mainland China is supplemented by a team of sub-distributors which provide additional breadth to the sales work of the Division.  MPD specializes in the distribution of equipment and instrumentation in several healthcare sectors, including diagnostic imaging products, surgical products, laboratory equipment and consumables, and aesthetic laser products.

Chindex has also developed an expertise in arranging government backed financing packages to help its hospital customers to purchase its medical equipment. These packages utilize export loan and loan guarantee programs from both the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the German KfW Development Bank.

The Company’s distribution platform is managed by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Chindex Shanghai International Trading Co., Ltd. (Chindex Shanghai), which provides full-scale distribution, logistics, and supply chain management services, including planning, purchasing, importation, inventory management, and domestic sourcing, to both the MPD and UFH operations, as well as to third party manufacturers and hospitals on a consulting basis.  Chindex Shanghai has received numerous awards for best practices and is one of only a handful of companies in the Shanghai bonded zone to enjoy express Customs clearance privileges.  As a purchaser of both domestic and imported medical products, a full-service logistics provider, and a seller of medical equipment and consumables to hospitals throughout China, Chindex has a rare understanding of the medical device industry in China from numerous perspectives, allowing it to provide uniquely specialized service to buyers and sellers, both within China and abroad, alike.

The Chindex growth plan for MPD is to capitalize on its longstanding expertise and unique knowledge of the inner workings of the Chinese healthcare marketplace to continue to grow its traditional business of importing specialized medical equipment.  MPD is expanding its product offerings, well as government-backed financing programs, and growing its channels distribution system to provide greater market coverage through an increasing number of local sub-distributors.