The Relationship Between Static Characteristics of Physicians and Patient Consultation Volume in Internet Hospitals: Quantitative Analysis

Abstract

Background: Internet medical treatment, also known as telemedicine, represents a paradigm shift in health care delivery. This contactless model allows patients to seek medical advice remotely, often before they physically visit a doctor's clinic. Herein, physicians are in a relatively passive position, as patients browse and choose their health care providers. Although a wealth of experience is undoubtedly a draw for many patients, it remains unclear which specific facets of a doctor's credentials and accomplishments patients prioritize during their selection process.

Objective: Our primary aim is to delve deeper into the correlation between physicians' static characteristics-such as their qualifications, experiences, and profiles on the internet-and the number of patient visits they receive. We seek to achieve this by analyzing comprehensive internet hospital data from public hospitals. Furthermore, we aim to offer insights into how doctors can present themselves more effectively on web-based platforms, thereby attracting more patients and improving overall patient satisfaction.

Methods: We retrospectively gathered web-based diagnosis and treatment data from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University in 2023. These data underwent rigorous analysis, encompassing basic descriptive statistics, correlation analyses between key factors in doctors' internet-based introductions, and the number of patient consultation visits. Additionally, we conducted subgroup analyses to ascertain the independence of these vital factors. To further distill the essence from these data, we used nonnegative matrix factorization to identify crucial demographic characteristics that significantly impact patient choice.

Results: The statistical results suggested that there were significant differences in the distribution of consultation volume (P<.001), and the correlation analysis results suggested that there was a strong correlation between the two groups of data (ρ=0.93; P<.001). There was a correlation between the richness of a profile and popularity (P<.001). Patients were more interested in physicians with advanced titles, doctoral degrees, social activities, and scientific achievements (P<.001) as well as other institutional visit experiences (P=.003). More prosperous social activities, scientific achievements, experiences of other institutional visits, and awards were more common among people with advanced professional titles. Doctoral degrees remained attractive to patients when data were limited to senior physicians (P<.001). Patients trusted the medical staff with advanced titles, social activities, scientific achievements, and doctoral degrees (P<.001).

Conclusions: Patient preferences for choosing a health care provider differed significantly between free and paid consultations. Notably, patients tended to trust doctors with advanced professional titles more and were more likely to seek out those with doctoral qualifications over other professional ranks. Additionally, physicians who actively participated in social events and scientific endeavors often had an advantage in attracting new patients. Given these insights, doctors who invest in enhancing their personal and professional experiences within these domains are likely to see increased popularity and patient satisfaction.

Keywords: internet hospitals; online consultation; patient; physician; static characteristics of physicians; statistical analysis; teleconsultation; telemedicine; web-based consultation.

Figure 1

Screenshot of an internet hospital platform. OMC: online medical consultation.

Figure 2

The flow chart of research design. OMC: online medical consultation.

Figure 3

Internet hospital doctor static information data. (A) 13 vector factor distribution ratio results (some of the content is shown in Multimedia Appendix 1); (B and C) The data distribution of online medical consultation (OMC) volume. In 2023, 800 participants from 57 in-person clinics were included in the follow-up study, and only 74 physicians had more than 1000 consultations; most had fewer than 200 visits.

Figure 4

The proportion of degrees in each title group. The results show that the proportion of advantaged items increases with the increase of professional titles.

Figure 5

Parts A and B represent the difference analyses of degrees, social activities, scientific achievements, visits to other institutions, and awards factors in the chief physicians and deputy chief physician groups. In the chief physicians and deputy chief physician groups, the maximum value with a large dispersion degree was removed, and 330 people remained. Doctoral degrees remain attractive to patients when data are limited to chief physicians and deputy chief physicians. OMC: online medical consultation. ns: not significant.

Figure 6

Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) data dimensionality reduction. (A) NMF rank survey (k=3 was determined as the optimal cluster number); (B) the data were divided into 3 groups; (C) the heatmap showed significant differences among the 3 groups; (D) the distribution of professional titles in each group was subsequently verified, indicating that the first group had significantly more senior professional titles than the other two groups; (E) analysis of the difference in the number of words in personal introduction and skill introduction between groups. (F) analysis of the difference in consultation volume between groups. Complimentary online medical consultation (OMC; P=.004) and fee-based OMC (P=.007) visit counts showed a significant difference among the 3 groups. * represents P<.05, ** represents P<.01, and *** represents P<.001.