This study attempted to confirm the preferences of chronic patients, healthy individuals, and physicians when choosing healthcare apps using CBCA. The findings demonstrated that cybersecurity and data safety were the most critical attributes for all participant groups, followed by certification and studies published on effectiveness. All groups were more willing to pay approximately $6 for cybersecurity and data safety and about $5 for certification. Compared with other groups, physicians were more willing to pay for services whose effectiveness was backed by published studies ($4.2) and high satisfaction ($4.7).
The results of this study suggest that the effectiveness of the policy can be reinforced by providing slightly more validation of cybersecurity or data safety, which was the highest-preference factor across all groups. Previous studies have also reported that data security is one of the factors that increase people’s WTP for digital health30,31. The certification program for healthcare apps in Korea aims to ensure people’s safety when using healthcare apps. Considering that the most critical attributes are security and data safety, the most important services in this study, people’s needs, and the program’s goal are well-matched.
We identified differences in the relative importance and WTP for each attribute according to demographic characteristics. Chronic patients tended to be more willing to pay for proven effectiveness or certification than healthy individuals32,33. Women were more willing to pay for cybersecurity than men. Younger people were relatively more willing to pay for cybersecurity, proven effectiveness, and user satisfaction than other age groups. Individuals in their 60s and older had the highest willingness to pay for certification. Considering this relative importance and WTP, the attributes of healthcare services should be emphasized differently depending on the age of the target consumer34,35.
Consistent with previous research, physicians preferred healthcare services with clinical effectiveness36–40. According to several previous studies, respiratory specialists, Dutch dermatologists, Norwegian general practitioners, and Belgian family doctors require strong evidence before considering the incorporation of adaptive digital health technology into their clinical practices. Therefore, for a healthcare app to be used effectively, it is necessary to first persuade medical professionals by confirming its effectiveness before they recommend it to their patients.
In this study, the volume of information provided was not a significant factor, whereas certain other factors were significant for people's preferences. This can be interpreted as users preferring to not provide much information. Therefore, efforts should be made to provide users with customized rather than excessive information.
This study is meaningful in that it confirmed the preference for healthcare app services among various groups, such as medical professionals, chronic patients, and healthy individuals. However, this study has several limitations. First, we conducted an online survey, which may differ depending on the situation when purchasing a product. Second, there are other attributes that people may consider more important than those included in this study. Finally, chronic patients included only those with high blood pressure and diabetes, whereas other patients may have different preferences.