The influence of digital health technology on the allocation of regional medical resources in China

Objectives: Digital health as a service innovation benefits society. However, because of a wide variance in information literacy among individuals, reliance on this technology raises more medical equity issues. This study investigates whether digital health service innovation improves the allocation of medical resources at the regional level in China. Methods: This study collected data from the China Statistical Yearbook and China Health Statistical Yearbook from 2011 to 2020 and an online health service. Then, using the Gini index and a thermal map to analyze the impact of service innovation with digital health on the allocation of medical resources. Results: The results demonstrate that, overall, service innovation with digital health has indeed alleviated the problem of allocation of medical resources, especially in terms of solving the problem of medical resource accessibility in remote or rural areas characterized by poor development. However, at the level of refinement, high-quality medical resources tend to accumulate in economically developed regions. In particular, online high-quality medical resources are concentrated in economically developed first-tier cities. Thus, especially for vulnerable groups, this kind of service innovation with digital health will exacerbate the problem of allocation of medical resources due to the intergenerational digital health literacy divide. Conclusion: Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of service innovation with digital health is conducive to rational use of medical resources and value creation.