Complexity of Individual Choice Between the Public and Private Healthcare Sectors

Complexity of Individual Choice Between the Public and Private Healthcare Sectors

Paula Rodrigues, Ana Sousa, Bruno Ferreira, Ana Pinto Borges, Carlos Martins
Copyright: © 2023 |Pages: 21
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-6044-3.ch014
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Abstract

This study analyzes what leads one individual to choose a particular health care institution, its main factors of valuation, their level of satisfaction as users, and the factors of complexity in their choice process, in Portugal. This work will compare public and private institutions and characterize the users of both types of health institutions. The explanatory variables for choosing between public or private sector health care institutions are (1) complexity factors in accessing health care services, (2) individual's attitude toward the health, (3) quality of service and e-service, (4) effectiveness of treatment, (5) price fairness, and (6) institution's perceived quality. This information was collected through an online structured questionnaire and a quantitative methodology was applied. Results show that while overall service quality has a positive and significant influence on public and private health care institutions, choice difficulty shows a negative and significant influence.
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Introduction

This study aims to understand what leads the population to choose a particular health care institution, the main factors for valuing it and their level of satisfaction as users. It also intends to understand if institutions’ strategies used at the management level are well developed and if they meet the users’ needs.

This study will compare public and private institutions, characterize the users of both types of health care institutions and identify which specialties are more frequent in these institutions. Also, and as the main objective, to know what leads individuals to choose a type of institution and the complexity factors in their choice process. To this end, a set of variables was used: (i) complexity factors in the access to health services, (ii) service quality and e-service, (iii) effectiveness of the treatment, (iv) price fairness, and (v) perceived quality of the institution.

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