Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-09-30)

 BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek September 30, 2019

14

SPOHR: GETTY IMAGES. DATA: CHINA STATISTICAL YEARBOOK 2018

○ Airlinesareunderpressureasbusiness travelers

A Shame fretaboutthecarboncostofflights

To celebrate raising $460 million in new capital,

finance startup Klarna Bank AB invited 600 staffers

from its Stockholm headquarters to Berlin for a party

in September. But instead of heading to the airport

for the 90-minute hop to the German capital, the

programmers, managers, and salespeople showed

up at Stockholm’s Central Station for a 15-hour

schlep by train and bus. The company, which

offers online payment services, bars virtually all

employee air travel within Europe and discourages

longer-distance flights. “It’s our aim to become car-

bon neutral,” says Robert Bueninck, chief of Klarna’s

business in Germany, who frequently rides the rails

on business trips to Brussels, London, and else-

where. “We know what’s happening to our planet.”

Like Klarna, companies across Europe are recon-

sidering travel policies, and individuals are asking

whether jetting off to sunny spots for holidays is

worth the environmental cost. The Swedes even

from simple colds to life-threatening cancers. And

many of the best ones are in the more developed

eastern part of the country, often many hours away

from rural families. While there’s a top hospital for

about every 550,000 people in Beijing or Shanghai,

in the country’s western hinterland there’s just one

for every 2.5 million people, according to data com-

piled by brokerage CSC Financial Co.

Several technology companies are jumping in to

fill that gap. WeDoctor, backed by Tencent Holdings

Ltd., said its online platform can potentially con-

nect more than 200 million users to doctors from

hospitals across the country. Alibaba Group Holding

Ltd.-backed Alibaba Health has signed up some

15,000 senior doctors to offer health consultation

services via the internet for users of its online retail

marketplace and its payment app Alipay.

Despite widespread interest in online medi-

cine, investors are still waiting for results. Good

Doctor shares have declined 15% since its initial

public offering last year. Other health-tech outfits

have also had a choppy year, with Alibaba Health’s

shares sliding 8% over the past 12 months, double

the 4% drop of the Hang Seng Index.

The industry could eventually get a boost

from government policies. Beijing has taken

some steps to make it easier to get public insur-

ance reimbursements for some online health-care

services, though local governments can decide

what will be covered. And Good Doctor has

already begun exporting its model overseas.

It’s set up joint ventures with Singapore’s Grab

Holdings Inc. and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp.

to offer online treatment consultation services in

Southeast Asia and Japan.

Wang says Good Doctor has already hired about

100 doctors in China from well-known hospitals,

offering annual compensation that can exceed

1 million yuan as well as stock options—a decent

wage for mainland doctors. But delivering care

over the internet can take some getting used to.

“Senior doctors tend to be more prudent, and if I

can’t see or touch the patient, it’s hard for me to

definitively tell the patient’s condition, but I still

have to offer clear advice to them,” says Liu, the

neurologist. “It takes a lot of experience on the

part of the doctor.”

Still, Liu says the service has an advantage tra-

ditional hospital consultation can’t rival: Patients

can stay in touch easily with their doctors rather

than wait months for the next available appoint-

ment. “The internet,” she says, “brings patients

anddoctorscloser.”—DongLyuandLuluChen

THE BOTTOM LINE As China experiences big increases in

diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, long waits for specialist visits

are common. Operators of doctor apps want to close the gap.

have a name for it: flygskam, or flight shame, and it’s

a growing threat to airlines in Europe and beyond.

SAS AB says its traffic fell 2% in the nine months

ended July 30 from the year- earlier period, and

Sweden’s airport operator has handled 9% fewer

passengers for domestic flights this year than last.

Both say flygskam has played a role in declining

traffic. “Unchallenged, this antiflying sentiment

will grow and spread,” says Alexandre de Juniac,

head of the International Air Transport Association.

“Politicians aren’t sticking up for us.”

In France, where the #avihonte (aviation shame)

hashtag is trending, some lawmakers have pro-

posed a ban on most internal flights. Austria’s state

railway—Europe’s leading provider of international

sleeping car service—has ordered 13 new sleeper

trains, saying the move was spurred by increased

demand for overnight travel because of environmen-

tal concerns. Germany plans to cut taxes for train

○ Licensed doctors and

assistantdoctorsper

1,000people

Morethan2.

2.5to2.

2.25to2.

Fewer than 2.

Beijing

Shanghai

Flyin’

○ Lufthansa’s Spohr