JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In the digital health era, telemedicine has become a key driver of healthcare reform and innovation globally, Understanding the factors influencing residents' choices of telemedicine services is crucial for optimizing service Design, enhancing user experience, and developing effective policy measures.

Objective:

This study aims to explore the key factors influencing Chinese residents' choices of telemedicine services through a discrete choice experiment (DCE), including consultation fee, physician qualifications, appointment waiting time, scope of services, privacy protection, and service hours. The study also analyzes preference heterogeneity among residents with different demographic characteristics to provide scientific evidence for optimizing telemedicine services in the digital health era.

Methods:

This study aims to explore the key factors influencing Chinese residents' choices of telemedicine services through a discrete choice experiment (DCE), including consultation fee, physician qualifications, appointment waiting time, scope of services, privacy protection, and service hours. The study also analyzes preference heterogeneity among residents with different demographic characteristics to provide scientific evidence for optimizing telemedicine services in the digital health era.

Results:

The study found that residents' preferences for telemedicine services are influenced by multiple factors. Among different attributes, "scope of services," "appointment waiting time," and "privacy protection" were identified as having high relative importance. Participants were willing to pay extra for comprehensive services, high levels of privacy protection, and shorter waiting times. The optimal telemedicine service option (scope of services as "consultation + prescription," privacy protection as "high," appointment waiting time as "immediate consultation," service hours as "24-hour service," and physician qualifications as "renowned expert professor") had a maximum WTP of 661.552 RMB. Latent class analysis showed significant heterogeneity in telemedicine service preferences across different categories of residents, but "privacy protection" and "scope of services" were universally the most important considerations. Further multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that older, male, lower-educated, and rural residents tend to value comprehensive service coverage and platform usability more, are more cost-sensitive, and prefer longer waiting times. In contrast, younger, female, and highly educated residents prefer shorter waiting times, higher-quality services, a broader scope of services, and place a high emphasis on privacy protection.

Conclusions:

This study reveals that consultation fee, physician qualifications, appointment waiting time, scope of services, privacy protection, and service hours are key factors influencing residents' choices of telemedicine services. Additionally, there is significant heterogeneity in preferences based on demographic characteristics. Enhancing the scope of services, strengthening privacy protection, reducing appointment waiting times, and improving physician qualifications and platform usability can effectively increase residents' willingness to pay and use telemedicine services. Implementing personalized telemedicine service strategies tailored to the needs of different demographic groups can help meet diverse demand and promote effective adoption.