Abstract
BackgroundPatient satisfaction is an important measure of healthcare quality as it offers information on the provider’s success at meeting clients’ expectations and is a key determinant of patients’ perspective behavioral intention. The aim of this paper is first to assess the degree of patient satisfaction, and second, to study the relationship between patient satisfaction of healthcare system and a set of socio-economic and healthcare provision indicators.MethodsThis empirical analysis covers 31 countries for the years 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2012. The dependent variable, the satisfaction index, is defined as the patient satisfaction of their country’s health system. We first construct an index of patient satisfaction and then, at a second stage, this index is related to socio-economic and healthcare provision variables.ResultsOur findings support that there is a strong positive association between patient satisfaction level and healthcare provision indicators, such as nurses and physicians per 100,000 habitants, with the latter being the most important contributor, and a negative association between patient satisfaction level and number of hospital beds. Among the socio-economic variables, public health expenditures greatly shape and positive relate to patient satisfaction, while private spending on health relates negatively. Finally, the elder a patient is, the more satisfied with a country’s healthcare system appears to be.ConclusionsWe conclude that there is a strong positive association between patient satisfaction and public health expenditures, number of physicians and nurses, and the age of the patient, while there is a negative evidence for private health spending and number of hospital beds.
Highlights
Patient satisfaction is an important measure of healthcare quality as it offers information on the provider’s
If a patient is the habitant of a high-income country, his/her probability of being satisfied with the country’s health system is about 3400 times higher compared to a patient satisfaction level from a low-income country
This paper studied the relationship between patient satisfaction of a country’s healthcare system and a set of socio-economic and healthcare provision indicators
Summary
Patient satisfaction is an important measure of healthcare quality as it offers information on the provider’s success at meeting clients’ expectations and is a key determinant of patients’ perspective behavioral intention. Quality of care is a dominant concept in quality assurance and quality improvement programs in the healthcare sector. The importance of quality in the healthcare sector has been recognized, but it has been accelerated over the last decade through the development of quality insurance, quality improvement programs and patients’ agendas [1]. Healthcare measures –including process measures– are developed for varied audiences who may wish to use them for healthcare purchasing, utilization, or performance improvement [5]. For all these purposes it is imperative that are meaningful, scientifically sound, generalizable, and interpretable [6]
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