Revealing Hidden Quality of a Healthcare Provider by Constructing a Healthcare Social Networking Site

醫療照護服務提供者與病患間的資訊不對稱一直是個重要的議題，而社群平台促進資訊分享與品質揭露的特性，被認為得以有效地緩解這種現象。我們欲研究醫療社群平台是否能夠幫助揭露醫療照護服務提供者的真實品質資訊，即使社群平台上可能存在著錯誤的資訊。在本篇研究中，我們探討一個醫療照護服務提供者、一個社群平台建置者，以及一群病患之間的資訊不對稱問題。在我們的模型中，病患無法直接地得知醫療照護服務提供者的品質資訊，而平台建置者則有可能知道該品質資訊。我們提出一個賽局理論模型，用以描述病患與平台建置者之間資訊交換的過程，平台建置者會決定其在平台上參與資訊交換的程度，參與度影響社群平台的網絡大小。曾經體驗過該醫療照護服務的病患，會在平台上向不曾體驗過服務的病患傳遞正面或負面的推薦訊息，接著，未曾體驗過服務的病患會根據推薦訊息更新他們對於該醫療照護提供者的認知品質，最後，再依據更新後的認知品質決定他們是否要購買服務。平台建置者的目標是找出其最佳參與度，以最大化病患加入平台的福利，而本研究的目的在於探討此最佳參與度的經濟與管理意涵。我們發現，即使社群平台上存在著錯誤訊息，醫療社群平台仍可以有效地揭露醫療照護服務提供者的品質資訊，此種平台的存在還是對緩解資訊不對稱有所幫助。The issue of information asymmetry between healthcare receivers (patients) and healthcare providers has always been of great importance. One feasible way to mitigate this problem is through healthcare social networking sites, which provide a more efficient way to facilitate information sharing and quality disclosure. We examine whether healthcare social networking sites are indeed helpful for revealing the true quality of healthcare providers, though there may be false information (noise) being passed on the sites. In this study, we discuss an information asymmetry problem among a healthcare provider, a social networking platform, and a group of patients. The quality of the service provided by the healthcare provider cannot be observed by the patients and may or may not be observed by the platform owner. We develop a game-theoretic model describing the process of information exchange among patients themselves and the platform owner on a social networking site. The platform owner will decide to what extend to participate in content generation on the site. This affects the network size of the social networking site. Patients who have experienced the service will then pass positive or negative recommendations to unexperienced patients, who then update their beliefs on the healthcare provider’s quality. Finally, based on the updated beliefs, unexperienced patients will decide whether to purchase the service. We characterize the platform owner’s optimal degree of engagement and study the economic and managerial implications of it. We find that a healthcare social networking site helps reveal the true quality of a healthcare provider. Despite the fact that there may be false information (noise), the existence of the healthcare social networking site is still beneficial