Impacts of competitive and collaborative online channels on dual-channel healthcare supply chain operations: A patient loss aversion perspective

The rise of online healthcare channels alongside traditional offline systems has gained global momentum, leading to two key modes: The competitive online channel, where independent providers compete with offline hospitals, and the collaborative online channel, where hospitals create their own online services. Despite this growth, the impact of online channels on dual-channel healthcare service supply chain operations remains underexplored. To address this gap, we employ a theoretical model to assess how competitive and collaborative online channels affect the dual-channel healthcare service supply chain, particularly considering patients’ loss aversion to delays and medical costs. Our findings indicate that loss aversion towards waiting time consistently reduces online capacity but may increase online demand when prices are high. In a competitive model, sensitivity to delays enhances both offline capacity and demand, while in a collaborative model, higher online prices diminish both capacity and demand, especially among delay-averse patients. We conclude that introducing a competitive online channel generally improves offline operations, whereas a collaborative channel may decrease offline capacity utilization and profits when online prices and delay aversion are high. In addition, online channels can enhance social welfare when patient wait costs are low. A comparison of the two models reveals that the competitive online channel is more effective for operating a dual-channel healthcare service supply chain to boost demand and profitability, especially when patients are low-sensitive to wait times, while a dual-channel healthcare service supply chain operated by a collaborative online channel and a traditional offline channel may be preferable for those highly averse to delays. These insights hold significant implications for designing a dual-channel healthcare service supply chain and improving its operational efficiency.