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Online health question-and-answer (Q&A) forums have developed a new business model whereby listeners (peer patients) can pay to read health information derived from consultations between askers (focal patients) and answerers (physicians). However, research exploring the mechanism behind peer patients' purchase decisions and the specific nature of the information driving these decisions has remained limited. This study aims to develop a theoretical model for understanding how peer patients make such decisions based on limited information, i.e. the first question displayed in each focal patient-physician interaction record, considering argument quality (interrogative form and information details) and source credibility (patient experience of focal patients), including the contingent role of urgency.

The model was tested by text mining 1,960 consultation records from a popular Chinese online health Q&A forum on the Yilu App. These records involved interactions between focal patients and physicians and were purchased by 447,718 peer patients seeking health-related information until this research.

Patient experience embedded in focal patients' questions plays a significant role in inducing peer patients to purchase previous consultation records featuring exchanges between focal patients and physicians; in particular, increasingly detailed information is associated with a reduced probability of making a purchase. When focal patients demonstrate a high level of urgency, the effect of information details is weakened, while the interrogative form is strengthened.

The originality of this study lies in its exploration of the monetization mechanism forming the trilateral relationship between askers (focal patients), answerers (physicians) and listeners (peer patients) in the business model “paying to view others' answers” in the online health Q&A forum and the moderating role of urgency in explaining the mechanism of how first questions influence peer patients' purchasing behavior.

Waiting time, as an important predictor of queue abandonment and patient satisfaction, is important for resource utilization and patient experience management. Medical institutions have given top priority to reforming the appointment system for many years; however, whether the increased information transparency brought about by the appointment scheduling mechanism could improve patient waiting time is not well understood. In this study, the authors examine the effects of information transparency in reducing patient waiting time from an uncertainty perspective.

Leveraging a quasi-natural experiment in a tertiary academic hospital, the authors analyze over one million observational patient visit records and design the propensity score matching plus the difference in difference (PSM-DID) model and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to address this issue.

The authors confirm that, on average, improved information transparency significantly reduces the waiting time for patients by approximately 6.43 min, a 4.90% reduction. The authors identify three types of uncertainties (resource, process and outcome uncertainty) in the patient visit process that affect patients' waiting time. Moreover, information transparency moderates the relationship between three sources of uncertainties and waiting time.

The authors’ work not only provides important theoretical explanations for the patient-level factors of in-clinic waiting time and the reasons for information technology (IT)-enabled appointment scheduling by time slot (ITASS) to shorten patient waiting time and improve patient experience but also provides potential solutions for further exploration of measures to reduce patient waiting time.

This study aims to examine the performance implications of an information governance (IG) framework for managing, controlling access to and securing information, focusing on (1) the performance benefits of an organization's IG orientation and (2) how the configuration of IG orientation and supply chain (SC) strategy type relate to performance outcomes.

This study leverages multiple secondary sources for US hospitals, serving as the context for the study. It also employs cluster analysis to develop an SC strategy taxonomy, namely sophisticated and delivery-focused SC strategies. The proposed research model is tested using a robust regression to mitigate the influence of outliers and produce more accurate estimates.

IG orientation is positively associated with financial performance and patient experience, and IG-oriented hospitals with a sophisticated SC strategy realize more financial benefits and achieve better patient care experiences compared to other configurations. Regardless of SC strategy type, IG-oriented hospitals offer better care experiences than non-IG-oriented hospitals.

This paper offers empirical evidence that a hospital's IG orientation and SC strategy jointly affect financial outcomes and patient experience. For hospitals, an organization-wide framework for governing information streamlines both intra- and inter-organizational information flows and improves care delivery throughout a patient's care experience.

This is one of a few studies that empirically examine the performance implications of governance of information in the domain of supply chain management (SCM). This study also develops an SC strategy taxonomy for the healthcare context and offers a springboard for research in service SC strategy.

This study aims to examine the perceptions and evaluations of Muslim COVID-19 survivors and health workers regarding the halal, business and ethical attributes of hospitals during their interactions related to COVID-19 treatment.

Descriptive qualitative research with semi-structured online interviews was used to gather insights from COVID-19 survivors and health workers who treated COVID-19 patients. The findings were then compared with existing literature on hospital services and Sharia attributes.

The study found that patients and health-care workers in hospitals are concerned about whether the hospital follows Sharia law, the quality of health-care and hospital services and the ethical conduct of hospital staff. This is especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic, when patients are more anxious about religious conduct and the afterlife.

Hospitals need to address halal attributes in all aspects of their services for Muslim patients and business attributes such as standard health-care quality, service quality and ethical attributes. Participants indicated that when these needs are met, they are more likely to revisit the hospital and recommend it to others.

This study contributes to understanding the expectations of Muslim patients regarding hospital services that meet Islamic ethical and business requirements. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study broadens the understanding of how to better serve Muslim customers.

The purpose of this research paper is to explore the determinants of patients' service choices between telephone consultation and text consultation in online health communities (OHCs).

This study utilized an empirical model based on the elaboration likelihood model and examined the effect of information, regarding service quality (the central route) and service price (the peripheral route), using online health consultation data from one of the largest OHCs in China.

The logistic regression results indicated that both physician- and patient-generated information can influence the patients' service choices; service price signals will lead patients to cheaper options. However, individual motivations, disease risk and consulting experience change a patients' information processing regarding central and peripheral cues.

Previous researchers have investigated the mechanism of patient behavior in OHCs; however, the researchers have not focused on the patients' choices regarding the multiple health services provided in OHCs. The findings of this study have theoretical and practical implications for future researchers, OHC designers and physicians.

Obesity and associated morbidity and mortality are major challenges for people with severe mental illness, particularly in secure (forensic) mental health care (patients who have committed a crime or have threatening behaviour). This study aims to explore experiences of weight management in secure mental health settings.

This study used a mixed-methods approach, involving thematic analysis. A survey was delivered to secure mental health-care staff in a National Health Service (NHS) mental health trust in Northern England. Focus groups were conducted with current and former patients, carers and staff in the same trust and semi-structured interviews were undertaken with staff in a second NHS mental health trust.

The survey received 79 responses and nine focus groups and 11 interviews were undertaken. Two overarching topics were identified: the contrasting perspectives expressed by different stakeholder groups, and the importance of a whole system approach. In addition, seven themes were highlighted, namely: medication, sedentary behaviour, patient motivation, catered food and alternatives, role of staff, and service delivery.

Secure care delivers a potentially “obesogenic environment", conducive to excessive weight gain. In future, complex interventions engaging wide-ranging stakeholders are likely to be needed, with linked longitudinal studies to evaluate feasibility and impact.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to involve current patients, former patients, carers and multidisciplinary staff across two large NHS trusts, in a mixed-methods approach investigating weight management in secure mental health services. People with lived experience of secure services are under-represented in research and their contribution is therefore of particular importance.

Designing digital artifacts is not a linear, straightforward process. This is particularly true when applying a user-centered design approach, or co-design, with users who are unable to participate in the design process. Although the reduced participation of a particular user group may harm the end result, the literature on solving this issue is sparse. In this article, proxy design is outlined as a method for involving a user group as proxy users to speak on behalf of a group that is difficult to reach. The article investigates the following research question: How can roleplaying be embedded in co-design to engage users as proxies on behalf of those who are unable to represent themselves?

The article presents a design ethnography spanning three years at a cancer rehabilitation clinic, where digital artifacts were designed to be used collaboratively by nurses and patients. The empirical data were analyzed using content analysis and consisted of 20 observation days at the clinic, six proxy design workshops, 21 telephone consultations between patients and nurses, and log data from the digital artifact.

The article shows that simulated consultations, with nurses roleplaying as proxies for patients ignited and initiated the design process and enabled an efficient in-depth understanding of patients. Moreover, the article reveals how proxy design as a method further expanded the design. The study findings illustrate: (1) proxy design as a method for initiating design, (2) proxy design as an embedded element in co-design and (3) six design guidelines that should be considered when engaging in proxy design.

The main contribution is the conceptualization of proxy design as a method that can ignite and initiate the co-design process when important users are unreachable, vulnerable or unable to represent themselves in the co-design process. More specifically, based on the empirical findings from a design ethnography that involved nurses as proxy users speaking on behalf of patients, the article shows that roleplaying in proxy design is a fitting way of initiating the design process, outlining proxy design as an embedded element of co-design.

The main purpose of this paper is to outline the antecedents of patient satisfaction in the field of medical tourism (MT) applying extant literature and to develop a conceptual model based on the review.

This paper presents a thorough review of prior studies related to the antecedents of patient satisfaction in the MT sector. Moreover, it provides the theoretical base that helped the researcher to identify significant relationship between the patient satisfaction and its antecedents.

The researchers identified the prominent antecedents of patient satisfaction and present the potential interrelationships between different antecedents of patient satisfaction such as treatment quality, cost attractiveness, destination image and service quality with patient satisfaction based on the review.

The results have momentous practical implications as they will help researchers to better understand the antecedents of patient satisfaction and their potential inter linkages with patient satisfaction in MT sector. The conceptual model derived from the review may guide the actions of researchers as well as practitioners in the MT industry as a whole. The present study provides insights for further research in the MT sector and thereby helps to further enrich the existing theoretical base of the MT.

The study brings together the scattered knowledge from the broad and extensive range of medical or health tourism and cognate literature which indicate ideological differences among various aspects of MT as well as potential factors determining patient satisfaction in MT sector (antecedents of satisfaction). The newly developed model incorporates a new construct called “treatment quality” as different from “service quality,” which is a widely used construct to explain customer satisfaction. The antecedents of patient satisfaction and their inter-linkages with patient satisfaction provide a sound theoretical foundation for the future studies.

Hair loss is often overlooked but psychologically challenging. However, the emergence of online health communities provides opportunities for hair loss patients to seek social support through self-disclosure. Nevertheless, not all disclosures receive the desired support. This research explores what patients disclose within the community and how their health narrative (content, form and linguistic style) regarding self-disclosure influences the social support they receive.

This study investigated a 13-year-old online support group for Chinese hair loss patients with nearly 240,000 members. Using structural topic modeling, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, and a negative binomial model, the research analyzed the content of self-disclosure and the interrelationships between social support and three narrative dimensions of self-disclosure.

Self-disclosures are classified into 14 topics, grouped under analytical, informative and emotional categories. Emotion-related self-disclosures, whether in content or effective word use, receive deeper social support. Longer and image-rich posts attract more support in quantity, but not necessarily in quality, while cognitive words have a limited impact.

This study addresses the previously overlooked population of hair loss patients within online health communities. It employs a more comprehensive health narrative framework to explore the relationship between self-disclosure and social support, utilizing unsupervised structural topic modeling methods to mine text. The research offers practical implications for how patients seek support and for healthcare professionals in developing doctor-patient communication strategies.

The advent of online live streaming platforms (OLSPs) and online health communities (OHCs) has expedited the integration of traditional medical services with Internet new media technology. Since the practice of physicians conducting live streaming is a relatively new phenomenon, the potential cross-platform effects of such physicians’ live streaming have not received adequate attention.

This study collected data from 616 physicians specializing in cardiology, obstetrics and gynecology and neurology between April and November 2022 on Live.Baidu.com and WeDoctor.com. It constructed a panel data set comprising a total of 4,928 observations over an 8-month period and validated the model using empirical analysis with the fixed-effects method.

We find evidence of cross-platform influence in online healthcare. Physicians’ live streaming behavior (whether live or not and the heat of their streams) on OLSPs positively impacts both their consultation and reputation on OHCs. Additionally, physicians’ ability positively moderates the relationships between live streaming heat and their performance (in terms of consultation volume and reputation) on OHCs. However, ability does not moderate the relationship between physicians’ live streaming status (live or not) and their performance (in terms of consultation and reputation) on OHCs. Furthermore, the attractive appearance of the physicians also significantly moderates the impact in a positive way.

This is one of the pioneering studies on physicians’ live streaming. The study offers vital guidance for physicians and patients utilizing dual platforms and holds significant reference value for platform operators (such as OLSPs and OHCs) aiming to optimize platform operations and for the government in policy formulation and industry regulation.