JD Health (06618) empowers the grassroots with a full link to solve the problems of “poor distribution, undelivery, and poor use” with the “AI+ supply chain”
The Zhitong Finance App learned that recently, “Online Drug Sales Empower the Grassroots: How to Open Up the “Last Mile” of Primary Care Services? ——2026 Grassroots Drug Accessibility Research Report” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”, full text attached at the end of the article) was officially released. The “Report” was jointly launched by the 21st Century New Health Research Institute in conjunction with JD Health (06618) and other institutions. For the first time, it comprehensively assessed the actual state of the drug use guarantee system at the grass-roots level from the four dimensions of supply, circulation, service, and digitalization.
The core idea of the “Report” points out that at present, access to medication at the grassroots level still faces four major structural shortcomings: insufficient drug categories, poor distribution efficiency, shortage of pharmacy services, and weak digital infrastructure. Pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms represented by JD Health have become a key force in solving the problem of primary drug use with a full range of supply chains, efficient fulfillment networks, and AI-driven professional pharmaceutical service capabilities, and are playing an increasingly important role in promoting the decline of high-quality medical resources and promoting equalization of medical services.
From “effective supplement” to “important component”: pharmaceutical e-commerce empowers grassroots value to soar
According to the “Report”, 53.8% of residents reported “inadequate medicine” at the grassroots level. Only 14.5% of grass-roots institutions are equipped with full-time licensed pharmacists, and 54.5% of institutions have low distribution frequency in remote areas. The number of people diagnosed and treated at the primary level already accounts for more than 52% of the country's total, but there is still plenty of room for improvement in drug supply.
After the “Report” was released, Jin Chunlin, director of the Shanghai Health and Health Development Research Center, pointed out to the 21st Century Economic Report reporter that the primary contradiction between grassroots drug use is “few varieties, poor connections, and death in assessment.” Currently, there are generally few types of drugs at the primary level, and the medication catalogue is out of touch with county-level hospitals, making it difficult for patients with chronic diseases to continue using medication once they have settled down to the grassroots level. Subject to assessment requirements, grass-roots institutions passively reduce procurement in order to control costs, and eventually fall into a cycle of “few varieties, few patients, low income, and fewer varieties” [1].
In the context of traditional supply systems facing multiple restrictions, the role of pharmaceutical e-commerce has fundamentally changed. The platform represented by JD Health has systematically filled the coverage gap of physical channels with a full range of supply chains, efficient compliance networks, and professional pharmaceutical service capabilities. According to the data, JD Health has achieved coverage of one million natural villages across the country. From 2023 to 2025, the number of grass-roots users served increased by more than 30%, and the number of people purchasing drugs for chronic diseases at the grassroots level increased by more than 113% in three years. Online medical treatment and drug purchases are becoming an important entry point for grassroots people to solve health problems.
According to the survey, 74.5% of grassroots practitioners agree that pharmaceutical e-commerce and county medical communities have broad space to collaborate, and 75.0% believe that online platforms should become an important part of the grass-roots drug use guarantee system.
In response to the current growing demand for people at the grassroots level to buy long-term medicines for chronic diseases and nighttime emergency medicines online, Liu Guoen, director of Peking University's Global Health Development Research Institute, pointed out earlier that village-level health rooms have an irreplaceable role as an indispensable network backbone of the primary health care system, but are constrained by conditions such as staffing, drug reserves, hardware facilities, etc., and there are natural shortcomings in service coverage, depth of diagnosis and treatment, and drug accessibility. Online drug sales can complement rural health rooms [2].
JD Health handed over a sample solution to the problem: using the “AI+ supply chain” to make up for shortcomings in drug use at the grassroots level
The “Report” selected JD Health as a benchmark case for the leading platform to systematically dismantle the implementation path of online channels to enable drug use at the grassroots level. Research shows that JD Health (67.3%) has become the most recognized online medicine platform among grassroots practitioners. Relying on same-day/next-day fulfillment networks in nearly 90% of counties, the supply system for all categories of drugs, and a closed loop of integrated “medical examination and drug diagnosis” services, it accurately responds to core blockages at the grassroots level.
On the supply side, JD Health uses digital “unlimited shelves” to break physical space restrictions. The proportion of users in third-tier cities and below has exceeded 65%, allowing rural users and urban residents to enjoy the same rich space for drug selection. On the distribution side, JD Health has built a three-level fulfillment network, and has set up nearly 100,000 township and village-level service sites across the country. The coverage rate of same-day delivery/next-day delivery in counties increased from 68.3% in 2023 to 87.1% in 2026.
Jin Chunlin said that online platforms such as JD Health have complete supply chains and distribution networks, and have built a mature chronic disease management system based on platform traffic entrances to support 24-hour service to meet the long-term and large-package drug purchase needs of patients with chronic diseases, making them gradually an important part of empowering drug use at the grassroots level [1].
On the service side, JD Health has closed the entire “medical examination and drug diagnosis” scenario. The number of users purchasing drugs for chronic diseases at the grassroots level increased by more than 113% in three years, leading the city for three consecutive years in the growth rate of consultation and drug purchases in rural areas.
Hao Xiaoning, a researcher at the Health Development Research Center of the National Health Commission, believes that “online medical treatment, drug purchase and medical examination” has broken through the “last mile” breakpoint of primary health services in a closed loop, making “screening, diagnosis, treatment, and management” truly continuous. When patients with chronic diseases can manage the entire process of follow-up, prescription renewal, and medication follow-up online, the focus of primary care can shift from treatment of incidental diseases to continuous health management [2].
On the technical side, JD Health launched the “AI Inclusive Healthcare Acceleration Program” to provide customized AI intelligent services to primary medical institutions. The AI doctor “Dawei” has accumulated hundreds of millions of interactions and a praise rate of 98%. Nearly 70% of users come from third-tier cities and below; AI intelligent inventory scheduling accurately predicts drug demand in various regions, effectively reducing the risk of supply cuts. As Liu Guoen said, digital online drug sales are not a simple supplement to primary care; instead, high-quality medical resources are “transported” to every village through technical means, and the shortcomings of the primary care network are systematically filled from the supply side, service side, and efficiency side [2].
From “rice storehouse” to “cloud medicine chest”, policy collaboration unlocks greater value from online drug sales
The findings of the “Report” were vividly confirmed at the grassroots level. In Jujia Village, Jiyang, Shandong, in a “heart-warming cafeteria” converted from an idle rice warehouse, Zhang Chuanbao not only provided free lunches for the left-behind elderly people, but also helped them see a doctor and buy medicine at Jingdong Health. On this year's Dragon Boat Festival, JD Health and the China Social Assistance Foundation launched the “100 Village Cloud Medicine Box” health protection program to provide 100 villages across the country with services such as online consultations, drug donations, and free consultations by doctors in villages. From a rice warehouse to a “cloud medicine chest” covering millions of villages, it is a true picture of pharmaceutical e-commerce empowering the grassroots.
At the same time, the “Report” points out that the industry is still facing practical challenges such as insufficient coverage of online medical insurance settlement at the grass-roots level and high remote logistics costs, and the potential of pharmaceutical e-commerce has yet to be unleashed. Jin Chunlin believes that in order to continuously improve the accessibility of medication at the grass-roots level, policy mechanisms should be optimized, the “one-size-fits-all” management model for primary drugs should be abandoned, the drug catalogue should be dynamically adjusted in line with diagnosis and treatment needs, restrictions on chronic medicine use should be relaxed, and normalization should promote the decline of innovative drugs and high-end drugs; at the same time, promote ecological collaboration in the industry, promote third-party platforms to jointly build cloud pharmacies with county medical communities, and form a division of labor and implementation model for supply chain and pharmacy services [1].
From a policy perspective, Liu Guoen pointed out that in recent years, regulatory policies for the online drug sales industry have continued to be introduced. The core logic is not to tighten the development of the industry, but to guide the transformation of the industry from simply “scale expansion” to “quality improvement.” Under the auspices of increasingly improved systems and regulations, platform enterprises should take the initiative to act as “digital health gatekeepers”, work with social forces to advance high-quality medical resources from urban centers to counties and villages, and continuously narrow the gap in medical resources between urban and rural areas [2].
The platform represented by JD Health has already passed the four-ring linkage model of “all categories of supply - efficient execution - professional pharmaceutical services - AI intelligent management”, forming the core support for moving from “supplement” to “composition”. As platform capabilities continue to be consolidated, industrial collaboration continues to be deepened, and policy support is gradually put in place, the value of pharmaceutical e-commerce's promotion of high-quality medical resources will be unleashed even more, contributing to the implementation of “Healthy China 2030” and strong infrastructure projects.
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[1] Jin Chunlin (Director of Shanghai Health and Health Development Research Center) was quoted from “An Insight Report on Grassroots Drug Use in One Picture: How to Change Online Drug Sales from “Supplementation” to “Standard”, 21st Century Economic Report, July 2026.
[2] Liu Guoen (Dean of the Institute of Global Health Development, Peking University) and Hao Xiaoning (researcher at the Health Development Research Center of the National Health Commission) are quoted from “Online Drug Sales Sinks Down to Build Grassroots Digital Intelligence Medicine to Protect the Whole Cycle Health of the People”, Xinhua News Agency - Economic Reference, July 2026.