Habit or Utility: A Key Choice Point in Promoting the Adoption of Telehealth in China

Telehealth, as an indispensable means of technical support in the Healthy China Strategy, currently has less than 20 percent adoption rate in China despite a great deal of government policies and investments. In the current study, to analyse the influencing factors behind doctors’ and patients’ adop...

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Main Authors: Yun Fan, Sifeng Liu, Jun Liu, Saad Ahmed Javed, Zhigeng Fang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020-01-01
Series:Complexity
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/5063756
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author Yun Fan
Sifeng Liu
Jun Liu
Saad Ahmed Javed
Zhigeng Fang
author_facet Yun Fan
Sifeng Liu
Jun Liu
Saad Ahmed Javed
Zhigeng Fang
author_sort Yun Fan
collection DOAJ
description Telehealth, as an indispensable means of technical support in the Healthy China Strategy, currently has less than 20 percent adoption rate in China despite a great deal of government policies and investments. In the current study, to analyse the influencing factors behind doctors’ and patients’ adoption of telehealth, an asymmetric dynamic evolutionary game model of doctor-patient behaviour selection was established. Based on the model solution, the evolutionarily stable strategies that emerge in different situations were analysed. The results show that it is difficult for the adoption of telehealth in China to keep pace with coverage due to the “dual low” nature of telehealth: both doctors’ utility from telehealth and patients’ telehealth cost threshold are too low to incentivize adoption. The strategy to promote the adoption of telehealth in China should include providing adequate training for doctors and patients on the use of telehealth technology, rewarding doctors who provide telehealth services and raising the threshold cost of patient’s telehealth adoption.
format Article
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institution OA Journals
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language English
publishDate 2020-01-01
publisher Wiley
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series Complexity
spelling doaj-art-e4b661fa495b402f957c4d2eee77f4f62025-08-20T02:21:19ZengWileyComplexity1076-27871099-05262020-01-01202010.1155/2020/50637565063756Habit or Utility: A Key Choice Point in Promoting the Adoption of Telehealth in ChinaYun Fan0Sifeng Liu1Jun Liu2Saad Ahmed Javed3Zhigeng Fang4College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, ChinaCollege of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, ChinaNantong University, Nantong 226019, ChinaInstitute for Grey Systems and Decision Sciences, GreySys Foundation, Lahore, PakistanCollege of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, ChinaTelehealth, as an indispensable means of technical support in the Healthy China Strategy, currently has less than 20 percent adoption rate in China despite a great deal of government policies and investments. In the current study, to analyse the influencing factors behind doctors’ and patients’ adoption of telehealth, an asymmetric dynamic evolutionary game model of doctor-patient behaviour selection was established. Based on the model solution, the evolutionarily stable strategies that emerge in different situations were analysed. The results show that it is difficult for the adoption of telehealth in China to keep pace with coverage due to the “dual low” nature of telehealth: both doctors’ utility from telehealth and patients’ telehealth cost threshold are too low to incentivize adoption. The strategy to promote the adoption of telehealth in China should include providing adequate training for doctors and patients on the use of telehealth technology, rewarding doctors who provide telehealth services and raising the threshold cost of patient’s telehealth adoption.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/5063756
spellingShingle Yun Fan
Sifeng Liu
Jun Liu
Saad Ahmed Javed
Zhigeng Fang
Habit or Utility: A Key Choice Point in Promoting the Adoption of Telehealth in China
Complexity
title Habit or Utility: A Key Choice Point in Promoting the Adoption of Telehealth in China
title_full Habit or Utility: A Key Choice Point in Promoting the Adoption of Telehealth in China
title_fullStr Habit or Utility: A Key Choice Point in Promoting the Adoption of Telehealth in China
title_full_unstemmed Habit or Utility: A Key Choice Point in Promoting the Adoption of Telehealth in China
title_short Habit or Utility: A Key Choice Point in Promoting the Adoption of Telehealth in China
title_sort habit or utility a key choice point in promoting the adoption of telehealth in china
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/5063756
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