A study on the impact of Internet information access on patients' first-diagnosed seeking behaviors in primary hospitals in the context of “Health China”

"Health China" strategy in China links medical information with Internet, but also leads to issues like misinformation, health anxiety, and blind pursuit of high-level care. This paper uses CFPS 2018 data and instrumental variable method to analyze the relationship between Internet information access and patients' initial diagnosis-seeking in primary hospitals. Results show that patients who rely on Internet as information source are less likely to seek initial diagnosis in primary hospitals. This is because Internet information encourages self-treatment for minor illnesses and promotes seeking high-level care in tertiary hospitals for severe illnesses. Heterogeneity shows that whether or not to use the Internet as an important information channel mainly affects men's behavior. Proposed countermeasures: (1) Improve access threshold of online consultation platforms and strengthen supervision of medical information. (2) Enhance chronic disease management services. (3) Build online and offline multi-dimensional service system.