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In many countries, acquiring medical support is expensive and inconvenient. For some countries where medical treatment is free, it is necessary to make an appointment with a practitioner, and often the patient must wait a long time to receive medical treatment. In contrast, in countries where part of the medical cost must be paid by the patient, this cost is generally high and meeting them can be difficult for some patients (Qu, Li, Liu & Mao 2012). Recognizing this, many platforms offering online health services (OHS) have been launched in recent years, and have been widely accepted by patients (Zhang, Guo, Wu, Lai & Vogel 2017). An OHS is defined as “a form of Internet-based health service delivery in terms of professional health services and medical consultations”(Zhang, Guo, Wu, Lai & Vogel 2017, p.987). OHS platforms provide background information (affiliations, titles, expertise, among others) and online information on physicians (patients’ reviews, interactions with patients, medical advice, among others), based on which patients can choose their physicians. Patients are also able to access health information, consultations, and recommendations by request at a price of 150–200 Yuan (about US $25–30) for every 15-minute phone call, or at a price of 20 Yuan (about US $3) for every question posed online.
Due to their many advantages, OHS have been warmly received by patients since they emerged in the e-marketplace. By April 2019, the number of active users of OHS reached 45 million in China. In 2018, the total revenue of the OHS market in China reached CNY49.1 billion (approximately US $7 billion), an increase of 45.87% from 2017, and this revenue is expected to reach CNY90 billion (approximately US $12.85 billion) in 2020 (Analysys 2018). A 2018 survey of Chinese citizens found that 73.85% of Chinese people say they are willing to pay for OHS (Analysys 2018).
Recognizing the benefits of OHS, many studies have been conducted focused on examining the benefits of adoption of OHS by examining the facilitators of user acceptance (e.g., Mou & Cohen 2014; Zhang, Liu, Deng & Chen 2017). However, it is important to have a more comprehensive understanding of OHS beyond this optimistic picture by also looking at possible barriers to acceptance as OHS are sometimes considered to pose various risks and threats. According to a report by Analysys (2018), 33.96% of people indicate that they are afraid to lose control of their private information, while 41.51% of people indicate that they are afraid to delay treatment of their health issues by using OHS.