Omnichannel in Healthcare? Offline-to-Online Spillover Effects and Implications for Telemedicine in Treating Chronic Patients

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chen, Xiangru; Ma, Xiao; Scheibe, Kevin P.; Johnson, Norman
• 署名单位: University of Alabama System; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; University of Houston System; University of Houston; Iowa State University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0742-1222
• DOI: 10.1080/07421222.2025.2452012
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 273-309
• 关键词: managing chronic disease; information-technology; SELF-MANAGEMENT; outcomes; CHINA; CHALLENGES; access; IMPACT; OPPORTUNITIES; PERSPECTIVE

摘要

Despite an annual healthcare expenditure of over $4.1 trillion dollars on chronic patients in the United States alone, chronic diseases remain the leading causes of death and rising healthcare costs. With the potential benefits of online telemedicine consultation, we ask what value omnichannel integration-business approaches that use various channels synergistically to maximize customer value-might provide to healthcare for individual patients with chronic diseases. While new patients may have a lack of experience with telemedicine consultation, existing patients are familiar with the service on telemedicine platforms. How would this difference between new and existing patients affect their preferences for physicians' channel strategies differently? Through a multi-method empirical approach including a preliminary survey study, econometric analyses of a 51 months' panel dataset from a prominent healthcare platform in China, rigorous testing using various alternative measures and econometric specifications, and a descriptive analysis of two distinct patient journeys through channels, we consistently observed a strong and positive effect of physicians' adoption of omnichannel integration on the selection of such physicians for paid online consultations by the platform's new patients. Meanwhile, this effect among the existing patients of the telemedicine platform is much weaker. These findings are helpful for all healthcare stakeholders, including patients, physicians, hospitals, healthcare platforms, and policymakers.