Correlation Between the Online Visiting Time and Frequency Increase in Telemedicine Services Offered by Health Care Providers Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Cross-Sectional Study
BackgroundChina has changed its COVID-19 prevention and control status since 2023. However, what role telemedicine will play post–COVID-19 is still uncertain. ObjectiveWe aimed to determine the frequency change in health care providers offering telemedicine servic...
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JMIR Publications
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Online Access: | https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e65092 |
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| author | Weiyi Wang Yuntian Chu Fangfang Cui Xiaobing Shi Xu Zhang Dongxu Sun Jinming Shi Jie Zhao |
| author_facet | Weiyi Wang Yuntian Chu Fangfang Cui Xiaobing Shi Xu Zhang Dongxu Sun Jinming Shi Jie Zhao |
| author_sort | Weiyi Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
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BackgroundChina has changed its COVID-19 prevention and control status since 2023. However, what role telemedicine will play post–COVID-19 is still uncertain.
ObjectiveWe aimed to determine the frequency change in health care providers offering telemedicine services before, during, and after COVID-19, as well as the correlation between the frequency change and telemedicine visit time.
MethodsThe Telemedicine Informationization Professional Committee of China (TIPC) carried out a nationwide questionnaire survey. We adopted data from part of the questionnaires that answered questions regarding the frequency of offering telemedicine services before, during, and after the COVID-19 explosion. Chi-square tests were applied to compare general differences in the between-group telemedicine frequency. Regression models were performed to analyze correlations between the frequency change and the time spent in online versus in-person visits.
ResultsQuestionnaires from 428 providers were included. As reported, 39 (9.11%) providers often and 159 (37.15%) always offered telemedicine services before COVID-19 exploded. The component ratio increased to 12.38% (n=53) of providers often and 45.79% (n=196) always offering telemedicine during COVID-19 explosion and 12.62% (n=54) often and 50% (n=214) always offering telemedicine after pandemic control was relaxed. The increase in frequency shown as a difference between the before and during groups (χ2=17.21, P.002) and between the before and after groups (χ2=30.17, P<.001) was significant, while it was insignificant between the during and after groups (χ2=2.89, P.57). Senior professional titles (odds ratio [OR] 4.38, 95% CI 1.72-11.6) and longer (OR 3.87, 95% CI 1.95-7.89) and shorter (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.11-3.87) online visits were correlated with the increase in frequency during versus before COVID-19. In addition, senior professional titles (OR 3.47, 95% CI 1.46-8.49), longer (OR 3.14, 95% CI 1.64-6.11) and shorter (OR=2.27, 95% CI 1.31-4.07) online visits, and using third-party telemedicine platforms (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.29-0.86) were correlated with the increase in frequency after versus before COVID-19. No factor was significantly correlated with the frequency change after versus during COVID-19. In stratified analysis, longer online visits were correlated with both during versus before (OR 3.84, 95% CI 1.73-8.83) and after versus before (OR 3.40, 95% CI 1.61-7.34) groups for providers using hospital-run platforms, while shorter online visits were correlated with both during versus before (OR 8.16, 95% CI 1.39-68.3) and after versus before (OR 5.70, 95% CI 1.22-33.6) groups for providers using third-party platforms.
ConclusionsThe frequency of telemedicine has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic exploded and is correlated with the time spent in online versus in-person visits. The correlation is different for providers using hospital-run and third party platforms. On a hospital-run platform, providers with longer online visits have a higher frequency of offering telemedicine, while on a third-party platform, providers with shorter online visits are more likely to offer telemedicine. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e463d6b4fb444aaca229d5c8b8727964 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1438-8871 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-e463d6b4fb444aaca229d5c8b87279642025-08-20T03:11:16ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712025-02-0127e6509210.2196/65092Correlation Between the Online Visiting Time and Frequency Increase in Telemedicine Services Offered by Health Care Providers Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Cross-Sectional StudyWeiyi Wanghttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2995-9613Yuntian Chuhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8931-7917Fangfang Cuihttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1870-7907Xiaobing Shihttps://orcid.org/0009-0008-8646-475XXu Zhanghttps://orcid.org/0009-0003-4624-8175Dongxu Sunhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4914-9132Jinming Shihttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3222-3845Jie Zhaohttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1168-8384 BackgroundChina has changed its COVID-19 prevention and control status since 2023. However, what role telemedicine will play post–COVID-19 is still uncertain. ObjectiveWe aimed to determine the frequency change in health care providers offering telemedicine services before, during, and after COVID-19, as well as the correlation between the frequency change and telemedicine visit time. MethodsThe Telemedicine Informationization Professional Committee of China (TIPC) carried out a nationwide questionnaire survey. We adopted data from part of the questionnaires that answered questions regarding the frequency of offering telemedicine services before, during, and after the COVID-19 explosion. Chi-square tests were applied to compare general differences in the between-group telemedicine frequency. Regression models were performed to analyze correlations between the frequency change and the time spent in online versus in-person visits. ResultsQuestionnaires from 428 providers were included. As reported, 39 (9.11%) providers often and 159 (37.15%) always offered telemedicine services before COVID-19 exploded. The component ratio increased to 12.38% (n=53) of providers often and 45.79% (n=196) always offering telemedicine during COVID-19 explosion and 12.62% (n=54) often and 50% (n=214) always offering telemedicine after pandemic control was relaxed. The increase in frequency shown as a difference between the before and during groups (χ2=17.21, P.002) and between the before and after groups (χ2=30.17, P<.001) was significant, while it was insignificant between the during and after groups (χ2=2.89, P.57). Senior professional titles (odds ratio [OR] 4.38, 95% CI 1.72-11.6) and longer (OR 3.87, 95% CI 1.95-7.89) and shorter (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.11-3.87) online visits were correlated with the increase in frequency during versus before COVID-19. In addition, senior professional titles (OR 3.47, 95% CI 1.46-8.49), longer (OR 3.14, 95% CI 1.64-6.11) and shorter (OR=2.27, 95% CI 1.31-4.07) online visits, and using third-party telemedicine platforms (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.29-0.86) were correlated with the increase in frequency after versus before COVID-19. No factor was significantly correlated with the frequency change after versus during COVID-19. In stratified analysis, longer online visits were correlated with both during versus before (OR 3.84, 95% CI 1.73-8.83) and after versus before (OR 3.40, 95% CI 1.61-7.34) groups for providers using hospital-run platforms, while shorter online visits were correlated with both during versus before (OR 8.16, 95% CI 1.39-68.3) and after versus before (OR 5.70, 95% CI 1.22-33.6) groups for providers using third-party platforms. ConclusionsThe frequency of telemedicine has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic exploded and is correlated with the time spent in online versus in-person visits. The correlation is different for providers using hospital-run and third party platforms. On a hospital-run platform, providers with longer online visits have a higher frequency of offering telemedicine, while on a third-party platform, providers with shorter online visits are more likely to offer telemedicine.https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e65092 |
| spellingShingle | Weiyi Wang Yuntian Chu Fangfang Cui Xiaobing Shi Xu Zhang Dongxu Sun Jinming Shi Jie Zhao Correlation Between the Online Visiting Time and Frequency Increase in Telemedicine Services Offered by Health Care Providers Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Cross-Sectional Study Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| title | Correlation Between the Online Visiting Time and Frequency Increase in Telemedicine Services Offered by Health Care Providers Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_full | Correlation Between the Online Visiting Time and Frequency Increase in Telemedicine Services Offered by Health Care Providers Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_fullStr | Correlation Between the Online Visiting Time and Frequency Increase in Telemedicine Services Offered by Health Care Providers Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Correlation Between the Online Visiting Time and Frequency Increase in Telemedicine Services Offered by Health Care Providers Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_short | Correlation Between the Online Visiting Time and Frequency Increase in Telemedicine Services Offered by Health Care Providers Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_sort | correlation between the online visiting time and frequency increase in telemedicine services offered by health care providers before during and after the covid 19 pandemic in china cross sectional study |
| url | https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e65092 |
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