(Hong Kong, Shanghai, 29 October 2020) Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter “Ping An” or the “Group”, HKEX: 02318; SSE: 601318) announced that Ping An’s AskBob Doctor has demonstrated that its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in cardiovascular disease management is comparable to human doctors. AskBob Doctor scored 97.7 points, compared to 93.9 points for a team of doctors, at a competition organized by the Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology 2020 and the Asian Heart Society Congress 2020, the National Clinical Research Center of Cardiovascular Diseases, Ping An Smart City and Ping An Good Doctor, a leading one-stop healthcare ecosystem platform in China that includes online medical services.

In the competition, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Beijing Friendship Hospital, and Peking University International Hospital each sent two resident doctors in cardiology to compete with AskBob Doctor’s AI technology. AskBob Doctor was operated by a Ping An employee, who clicked the buttons of “Read Medical Records”, “Require Extra Information of Disease History and Medical Inspection” and “Medical Treatment Solutions”.

The organizers provided nine medical cases for both the humans and machines in the competition, which focused on the integrated management of cardiovascular diseases such as atrial fibrillation, coronary heart disease, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Participants were provided the medical records, and could request further information on the patients’ medical records, examinations or test results. After receiving all the information, the participants provided a final treatment solution, including medicine prescriptions, lifestyle advice and follow-up procedures. AskBob Doctor provided answers for all nine cases, while the six doctors were divided into three groups to provide answers for three cases each.

Three experts assessed the submissions provided by AskBob Doctor and the human doctors in an anonymous review process. The experts assessed the rationality of the medication prescription and the validity of the advice, as well as the nature of requests for additional information. According to the experts, AskBob Doctor received 97.7 points while the doctors’ teams received 93.9 points based on the average score of the nine cases. In addition, based on on-site observation, the doctors took 10 to 15 minutes to complete a submission for each case, while AskBob Doctor responded within one to five seconds per case after the staff completed just three clicks to issue instructions.

Xie Guotong, Ping An’s Chief Healthcare Scientist, said, “With the advent of big data era, health care knowledge and data is increasing at an unprecedented pace. Ping An would like to leverage AI technology to assist doctors cope with challenges through AskBob Doctor. AskBob Doctor can deliver information to doctors instantly about patients’ examinations, test results and medication during the diagnosis process. Not only that, it can provide the latest research papers and popular research topics based on doctors’ expertise to facilitate their research efforts. AskBob Doctor is also able to consolidate the information of the latest meetings, journals and live streams related to doctors’ areas of interests to boost their learning. Furthermore, AskBob Doctor can help doctors follow up with patients and conduct patients’ education. Leveraging Ping An’s health care big data and advantages in healthtech, AskBob Doctor could soon become a preferred tool for doctors.”

Professor Ma Changsheng, Director of Cardiology Department in Beijing AnZhen Hospital said, "It is a great pleasure to witness how AI can be applied in cardiovascular diseases integrated management and reach the standard of care provided by resident doctors. This competition revealed that we are set to enter an era of AI in the future. AI can help everyone live a better life."

Currently, Ping An Good Doctor uses AskBob Doctor on its digital platform for doctors. Over 1,800 members in its in-house medical team and nearly 6,000 contracted doctors can efficiently retrieve and translate medical information through AskBob Doctor, improving the efficiency of their daily diagnosis and treatment efforts. It has also helped doctors improve the efficiency of academic research and development and contributed to cutting-edge scientific research.

The competition was supervised by a team of experts headed by Professor Ma Changsheng, Director of Cardiology Department in Beijing AnZhen Hospital and Director of National Clinical Research Center of Cardiovascular Diseases. The competition was designed by Professor Du Xin of Cardiology Department in Beijing AnZhen Hospital. Alongside Professor Ma, the competition was also judged by Professor Liu Xiaohui of the Cardiology Department at Peking University International Hospital, Professor Zhao Shumei of the Cardiovascular Center at the Beijing Friendship Hospital, and Professor Lu Qiang of the Cardiology Department at Beijing AnZhen Hospital. Experts including Xie Guotong, Chief Healthcare Scientist of Ping An, also attended the competition.