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Internet Hospital in China during COVID-19: National Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND
The Internet hospital is rapidly developing in China as an innovative approach to providing health services. The on-going coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has triggered the development of Internet hospitals which have promoted outpatient service delivery via Internet technologies to the public. To date, no study has explored China's Internet hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.


OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to elucidate the characteristics of China's Internet hospitals, and to assess their health service capacity.


METHODS
The data of 711 Internet hospitals were collected through the official websites, the WeChat platform, smartphone app, and the Baidu search engine until July 16, 2020.


RESULTS
By July 16, 2020, the number of Internet hospitals had outstretched to 711 in the mainland of China. More than half of Internet hospitals were established during 2019 (28.97%, 206/711) and 2020 (30.24%, 215/711). In particular, Internet hospitals set up at the beginning of 2020, as an emergency response to the COVID-19 epidemic, has a one-third weight with three different dominators: Government-oriented, hospital-oriented, and enterprise-oriented internet hospitals. In the vast majority of Internet hospitals, traditional hospitals dominate by up to 73.98%, 526/711. Nearly 46.14% (221/711) of Internet hospitals requested doctors to provide health services at a specific Web clinic. Patients accessed outpatient service delivery via WeChat (35.05%, 224/639) most widely. The consulting methods included a graphic message (96.84%, 552/570), video (43.51%, 248/570), and telephone (41.75%, 238/570). The median number of doctors online was 43, whereas the median consultation fee of fever clinic and other outpatient clinics per time were separately ¥0 and ¥6. Internet hospitals played various roles during COVID-19, including medical prescription, drug delivery service, and medical insurance.


CONCLUSIONS
The booming of Internet hospitals in China has played a significant role in the prevention and control of COVID-19, providing different and convenient medical services for people in need.


CLINICALTRIAL