Partnering With Quality HealthCare - BOC Life Makes the First Move to Blend Self-Care Health Management Into Customers’ Lives

[Hong Kong – 23 November 2020] BOC Group Life Assurance Company Limited ("BOC Life") and Quality HealthCare Medical Services Limited ("QHMS") announced today a joint collaboration in setting up the  BOC Life 24-hour "QHMS Wellness Online shop".

All customers of BOC Life and staff members of Bank of China (Hong Kong) can purchase more than 100 types of medical and healthcare products and services at membership prices or redeem them by Wellness Dollars, anytime, anywhere. The online shop will offer different types of body checks, adult and child vaccines, COVID-19 tests, and traditional Chinese medicine health care, to help customers and their families establish the first line of healthcare protection. This partnership with QHMS marks the first step of BOC Life's efforts to blend  self-care health management into customers' lives in the epidemic era.

Population ageing in Hong Kong is becoming increasingly significant, the number of elderly persons aged 65 and above is projected to nearly double in the coming 20 years, from 1.32 million in 2019 to 2.52 million in 2039, accounting for one third of the total population^[1]. Public medical facilities and services have long been in short supply, and the public demand for private healthcare services continues to grow. The persistent  COVID-19 pandemic has brought us to a new normal, raising people's health awareness of both themselves and  their family- as well as, accelerating the digitalization of healthcare services. QHMS as one of the largest private medical services providers in Hong Kong, has always been committed to better understanding the public's changing needs for medical and healthcare services. In recent years, QHMS has also been actively digitized, making  medical and healthcare services more convenient with quality assurance.

Under the collaboration, QHMS has launched a brand new "QHMS Wellness Online Shop" with Wellness Dollars account feature, serving BOC Life's customers and staff members of Bank of China (Hong Kong).  Designated BOC Life's customers can redeem selected health products and services through Wellness Dollars. BOC Life has also launched the official website and Facebook page of the "Health Research Institute" to promote and give away Wellness Dollars for use in the online shop.  The platform provides a broad range of preventive measures of COVID-19 and other types of health information verified by the healthcare professionals of QHMS, in a light hearted way.

In the next stage, both parties will continue exploring how to encourage customers' to take better care of their health, and , support customers  to move towards a healthier living reflecting with healthier indexes in body checks. BOC Life intends to provide premium discounts or increased insurance coverage to existing insurance customers whose medical examination indexes have reached specified targets.

In addition, BOC Life will gradually introduce more cross-industry partners to jointly create a healthcare ecosystem for customers, with innovative technology and personalized products while bringing multiple wins to all.  It will help fill the health protection gap of people, encouraging customers to develop healthy habits, and raising customers' awareness on health and wellbeing. Together with our customers, BOC Life will promote the new concept of preventive healthcare.

Wilson Tang, Chief Executive of BOC Life, said, "The average life expectancy in Hong Kong is getting longer. According to the data published by the Census and Statistics Department, the average life expectancy at birth is 82.2 years for men and 88.1 years for women^[2]. In the epidemic era, whether the increased life expectancy comes with sickness or healthiness has become one of the key concerns. In the future, life insurance coverage, including annuities, plans of critical illnesses and legacy protection, should provide customers with self-care health management, elevating insurance function from its traditional post-event claims to illness prevention. We are currently in discussion with the leading global smart watch brand Garmin and the French reinsurance group SCOR with a view to fostering a strategic partnership. With reference to the successful international experience cored by insurance company, we will partner with technology companies and companies of diverse healthcare industries. Hopefully, in the first quarter of next year, we could bring a brand-new self-care health management experience to customers in Hong Kong."

Elaine Chu, General Manager of Quality HealthCare, said, "Supporting people's holistic health and mental wellbeing is always our priority. Apart from striving to provide high-quality healthcare services, we actively advocate the public to manage their health by understanding their own health situation and starting with preventive healthcare. We really value our collaboration with BOC Life as the first partner in their healthcare ecosystem, which enables our health and medical services to reach a more extensive customer network. Through this alliance, we call for customers from all walks of life to pay more attention to the prevention of chronic diseases in addition to focusing on combating the pandemic. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. While we grow quickly with the times and transform healthcare delivery with digital experiences, we are offering the community our diversified and comprehensive healthcare services in a fast and easy way, empowering them to manage their own and their family's health anytime, anywhere."

BOC Life takes pragmatic actions to walk with its customers. Customers who have successfully enrolled the designated life insurance plans within the designated period are potentially entitled for $6000 Wellness Dollars. Customers can spend the Wellness Dollars fully or top up with additional payment to redeem a series of selected health products and services provided by QHMS at an "enjoyable price". Please visit the "Health Research Institute" at https://www.boclife.com.hk/wellness/home.html to access more healthcare information.
 

Wilson Tang, Chief Executive of BOC Life (Left 2), Elaine Chu, General Manager of Quality HealthCare (Right 2) and two members of “Health Research Institute”. BOC Life and Quality HealthCare today announced a joint collaboration in setting up the BOC Life 24-hour "QHMS Wellness online shop". 

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Notes to editor

[1] Data from Census and Statistics Department, HKSAR, 2020:  https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B1120015082020XXXXB0100.pdf
[2] Data from Census and Statistics Department, HKSAR, 2019: https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/so160_tc.jsp