TY - JOUR
T1 - Enterprise led or hospital led
T2 - Types of online healthcare platforms and patient choice
AU - Han, Zhao
AU - Du, Gang
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2026/4
Y1 - 2026/4
N2 - Internet-based medical consultation has become a new channel for care for patients. They can choose suitable online healthcare platforms (OHPs) according to their needs. However, little is known about how patients make such choices and why they choose certain OHPs. Focusing on OHP types and patient choices, this study first carried out three online virtual experimental studies (n=871) and one behavioral survey (n=201). The results indicated that patients with different disease severity show significant differences in intention to use hospital-led or enterprise-led OHPs. When seeking advice from others, patients with low disease severity are more likely to choose hospital-led OHPs, and perceived convenience plays a mediating role. Patients with high disease severity have higher perceived convenience and expected expectations for enterprise-led OHPs. Subsequently, we conducted semi-structured interviews (n=18) to confirm and complement the quantitative study results. This study broadens the research perspective on OHPs, enriches the research on online consultation targets, and provides theoretical guidance for OHPs’ managers to improve patient usage rates.
AB - Internet-based medical consultation has become a new channel for care for patients. They can choose suitable online healthcare platforms (OHPs) according to their needs. However, little is known about how patients make such choices and why they choose certain OHPs. Focusing on OHP types and patient choices, this study first carried out three online virtual experimental studies (n=871) and one behavioral survey (n=201). The results indicated that patients with different disease severity show significant differences in intention to use hospital-led or enterprise-led OHPs. When seeking advice from others, patients with low disease severity are more likely to choose hospital-led OHPs, and perceived convenience plays a mediating role. Patients with high disease severity have higher perceived convenience and expected expectations for enterprise-led OHPs. Subsequently, we conducted semi-structured interviews (n=18) to confirm and complement the quantitative study results. This study broadens the research perspective on OHPs, enriches the research on online consultation targets, and provides theoretical guidance for OHPs’ managers to improve patient usage rates.
KW - Disease severity
KW - Expectations
KW - Online consultation targets
KW - Online healthcare platforms
KW - Perceived convenience
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105028297864
U2 - 10.1016/j.im.2026.104304
DO - 10.1016/j.im.2026.104304
M3 - 文章
AN - SCOPUS:105028297864
SN - 0378-7206
VL - 63
JO - Information and Management
JF - Information and Management
IS - 3
M1 - 104304
ER -