A typology of evaluative health platforms: Commercial interests and their implications for patient voice.

Autor: Reilley J; University of Groningen, Department of Accounting and Auditing, Groningen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: j.t.reilley@rug.nl., Pflueger D; HEC Paris, Department of Accounting & Management Control, France. Electronic address: pflueger@hec.fr., Huber C; Copenhagen Business School, Department of Operations Management, Denmark. Electronic address: chu.om@cbs.dk.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Social science & medicine (1982) [Soc Sci Med] 2024 Jun; Vol. 350, pp. 116946. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 May 06.
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116946
Abstrakt: Interactions in the healthcare system today involve an important new set of actors: evaluative health platforms (EHPs). These platforms are not neutral intermediaries, but active moderators of how patients express opinions, choose providers, and consume health-related information. This paper adds to our understanding of the varied and evolving commercial interests of EHPs and the implications these have for patient voice. We analyze 71 platforms in the USA, UK, and Germany and identify five ideal types: subscribers, analyzers, advertisers, regulators, and scammers. Each platform type enacts a unique competitive strategy through an evaluative infrastructure which constrains but also generates possibilities for patient voice. Based on our typology, we develop three contributions. First, we nuance universalizing claims about the consequences of platform capitalism by specifying the diverse strategies underpinning competition between EHPs in different countries, and showing how each strategy leads evaluative infrastructures to develop in ways that impact patient voice. Second, we show how patients can navigate the challenges of a complex EHP space by exercising their ability to choose between platforms. Finally, we outline the conditions platforms need to fulfil to become empowering. Overall, this study highlights the varied and complex relationship between platform business models and user voice, which exists not only in healthcare, but also in many other fields.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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