Under the national guidance of Internet Plus Healthcare, Internet hospital was officially recognized in 2018 by the Chinese government, however, how to innovate the business models of Internet hospitals remains controversial. This study sought to explore key stakeholders’ perspectives on key dilemmas about innovative business models of Internet hospitals in China.

A focus group study of key stakeholders was performed. Twelve key stakeholders (six senior officials from related ministries, two industry practitioners of Internet medicine, one hospital leader, two healthcare researchers (financing and policy), and one venture capital manager) participated in the focus group, in 2019. Thematic content analysis was applied for data analysis.

Themes highlighted six key dilemmas when developing a business model of Internet hospitals, including (i) value proposition (medical treatment versus entire health management); (ii) leading party (hospitals versus third parties such as Internet companies); (iii) level of healthcare (tertiary versus primary); (iv) scope of service (provide full range versus part of traditional hospital service); (v) primary source of revenue (medical services versus drug sales); and (vi) legal liability (web-based unit versus physical hospital).

The healthcare industry is currently in search of innovative business models of Internet hospitals in response to the unprecedented form of healthcare in China. However, the core aspects of the model design still remain debatable. At this revolutionary stage, policies are important to allow the implementation of different model designs that support the successful transformation of the entire health care system in China.