PHP74 - Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Care Delivery Through In-Depth Understanding of the China Healthcare Digital Landscape

Abstract

To gain a detailed understanding of patient and physician behavior in China’s digital healthcare environment, with the aim of improving the quality and efficiency of care delivery. A large scale primary research project was conducted in China to understand the digital life of physicians and patients. 10,325 physicians from 32 specialties, and 1,412 patients covering 16 disease areas were surveyed in 2017. The survey was administered via mobile platform and/or online, with most of the survey data collected via mobile platform. Survey results indicated that physicians and patients spent a similar amount of time online (29 hours per week). While physicians spent 55% of their online time on professional activities, patient dedicated 26% of online time to health-related activities. The top-ranked online activities for physicians were ‘medical knowledge’, ‘search’ (literature and data) and ‘use of professional medical software’. Patients’ top three healthcare related online activities were ‘reading medical education material’, ‘searching for medical product information’, and ‘looking for free online medical consultations’. Regarding tele-health, 77% of physicians had a very positive view of the “internet hospital” (a concept of combining tele-medicine with community hospitals) and 75% of physicians believe that internet hospital has a positive future. Data demonstrated that 93% of the initial treatments that patients received were prescribed by physicians, while 23% of patients self-selected treatment. 47% of the patients had made requests to their physicians for certain product prescriptions, with 17% of patients had successfully influencing physicians’ prescribing decisions. The information from this large-scale survey depicts the digital life of physicians and patients. A better understanding of physician and patient digital behavior will help us to optimize medical information delivery and enhance patient-physician interactions. Leveraging the efficiency and speed of online and mobile platforms may be a crucial factor in improving healthcare delivery.