JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The Internet Hospital is an innovative organizational form and service mode under the tide of Internet Plus in the Chinese medical industry. It is the product of the interaction between consumer health needs and supply-side reform. However, there is still no systematic summary of its establishment type and content analysis of service.

Objective:

The primary purpose of this study is to understand the definition, establishment of Internet Hospitals and its development status.

Methods:

Data on Internet Hospitals name have been obtained via Baidu search engine up until January 1, 2019. Based on that, we obtained more detailed information on the official websites and apps of 130 online hospitals, and formed a database for descriptive analysis.

Results:

By January 2019, the number of registered Internet Hospitals had expanded to about 130 in 25 provinces, accounting for 73.5% of all provinces or province-level municipalities in China. Differing from online health, telemedicine, and mobile medical, Internet Hospitals as a new telehealth model, is distinguished and overlap with the above three. It has four kinds of services, including convenience services, online medical services, telemedicine, and related industries. In general, there is an underlying common treatment flowchart of care in ordinary and Internet Hospitals. There are three different sponsors of Internet Hospitals, including government-led integration, hospital-led, and enterprise-led, for which stakeholders will have different supporting content and responsibilities.

Conclusions:

Internet Hospitals are booming in China, and it is the joint efforts of the government and the market to alleviate the coexistence of a shortage of medical resources and a waste of medical supplies. The origin of Internet Hospitals in the eastern and western regions, the purpose of the establishment initiator, and the content of online and offline services are different. Only further standardized management and reasonable industry freedom can realize Internet Hospitals' original intention to meet the various health needs.