Dynamic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the demand for telemedicine services: Evidence from China

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of telemedicine worldwide. Understanding how demand for telemedicine services expands during and after the pandemic is important in assessing its sustainability into the future. This study uses detailed transaction data from one of China's largest online healthcare platforms to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the demand for telemedicine services in China, and the dynamics of this demand. We empirically examine the relationship between telemedicine demand and the severity of COVID-19 using event study models that exploit geographic variations in COVID-19 cases across Chinese prefectures in the initial phase. Our results show that prefectures that recorded higher COVID-19 cases experienced a larger and more persistent increase in patient demand for online medical consultations. Heightened demand for telemedicine persisted up to nine months after the strict lockdown was relaxed. The dynamics of expansion in telemedicine demand varied by service types, clinical specialties, and provider-patient location. In identifying potential mechanisms, we find suggestive evidence that information played a role in affecting demand through more intensive internet searches for information on telemedicine.