JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Although internet healthcare services originated in the 1960s, it was only upon the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic that the demand for these online services grew at unprecedented rates. To meet the demand, the internet healthcare environment developed rapidly during the pandemic.

Objective:

This study aimed to identify the current status of internet healthcare service use in China and explore users’ perspectives on the barriers and facilitators that influence its use.

Methods:

We conducted 58 semi-structured interviews with people across China between September and October 2022. The 58 interviewees were selected by snowball sampling and described their own experiences of internet healthcare services utilization.

Results:

Online registrations, online consultations with physicians, medical information inquiries, and online payments were the main functions of internet healthcare services used by Chinese residents. The factors positively associated with the use of internet healthcare services were the time-saving characteristic of such services, the COVID-19 pandemic, the distance from the hospital, and e-related knowledge. The factors negatively associated with the use of these services were preference for conventional consultations, disease treatment urgency, cost of internet healthcare services, and doubts about the safety and privacy of the platforms and about the diagnosis made online.

Conclusions:

Internet healthcare services seem to play the role of an alternative, not a substitute, to conventional healthcare services in China. Our study could provide relevant, up-to-date information that healthcare providers and healthcare policymakers can use when devising relevant measures to improve internet health care service. Related stakeholders should provide clear operation instructions to improve accessibility, and involved authorities should thoroughly regulate these online services to ensure their quality, their safety, and patients’ privacy.