Patient experience in National digital health platforms: Evidence from patient-generated feedback in Saudi Arabia
- 1Department of Information Systems, College of Computer Sciences and Information Technology, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract
National digital health platforms are becoming fundamental components of modern healthcare delivery; however, patient experience is commonly assessed using overall ratings or sentiment analysis, providing limited understanding of the specific dimensions that influence digital healthcare quality and service improvement. This study aimed to develop a multidimensional framework for understanding patient experience in a national digital health platform, examine variation across healthcare services, investigate changes over time, and identify evidence-based improvement priorities. A qualitative analysis was conducted using 97,034 Google Play reviews of Sehhaty, the Saudi national digital health platform, posted between 2019 and 2026. Reviews were analyzed using an inductive coding approach to develop a patient experience framework, followed by comparative analyses across healthcare services and longitudinal analyses across successive stages of platform development. Nine patient experience dimensions were identified. Patient experience differed considerably across healthcare services, indicating that improvement priorities were service-specific rather than uniform across the platform. Longitudinal analyses showed a shift from predominantly technical concerns during early deployment toward challenges involving service accessibility, integration, continuity of care, as the platform matured. These findings enabled the identification of service-specific priorities for improving digital healthcare delivery. Patient experience in national digital health platforms is multidimensional, service-dependent, and evolves alongside platform maturity. The proposed framework extends approaches based primarily on ratings or sentiment by transforming large-scale patient-generated feedback into actionable evidence for healthcare quality improvement and continuous evaluation of patient-centered digital health services.
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BibTeX
@article{albesher2026patient,
title = {{Patient experience in National digital health platforms: Evidence from patient-generated feedback in Saudi Arabia}},
author = {Abdulmohsen Saud Albesher},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0360416},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0360416},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Patient experience in National digital health platforms: Evidence from patient-generated feedback in Saudi Arabia
AU - Abdulmohsen Saud Albesher
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0360416
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0360416
AB - National digital health platforms are becoming fundamental components of modern healthcare delivery; however, patient experience is commonly assessed using overall ratings or sentiment analysis, providing limited understanding of the specific dimensions that influence digital healthcare quality and service improvement. This study aimed to develop a multidimensional framework for understanding patient experience in a national digital health platform, examine variation across healthcare services, investigate changes over time, and identify evidence-based improvement priorities. A qualitative analysis was conducted using 97,034 Google Play reviews of Sehhaty, the Saudi national digital health platform, posted between 2019 and 2026. Reviews were analyzed using an inductive coding approach to develop a patient experience framework, followed by comparative analyses across healthcare services and longitudinal analyses across successive stages of platform development. Nine patient experience dimensions were identified. Patient experience differed considerably across healthcare services, indicating that improvement priorities were service-specific rather than uniform across the platform. Longitudinal analyses showed a shift from predominantly technical concerns during early deployment toward challenges involving service accessibility, integration, continuity of care, as the platform matured. These findings enabled the identification of service-specific priorities for improving digital healthcare delivery. Patient experience in national digital health platforms is multidimensional, service-dependent, and evolves alongside platform maturity. The proposed framework extends approaches based primarily on ratings or sentiment by transforming large-scale patient-generated feedback into actionable evidence for healthcare quality improvement and continuous evaluation of patient-centered digital health services.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -