A typology of evaluative health platforms: Commercial interests and their implications for patient voice
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: 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.
Source: Social Science & Medicine
Authors: Jacob Reilley, Dane Pflueger, Christian Huber
Institutions: University of Groningen, HEC Paris, Copenhagen Business School
Language: English
Subfield: Health Information Management
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,390
OpenAlex ID: W4396678424