The Difference in the Perception of the Performed Medical Treatment in a Public Institution and a Private Contractor – A Cross-Sectional Study – A Comparative Quantitative Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: With our research we wanted to find out if differences exist, and if they do, what they are regarding the comprehension of treatment at the health service providers, who belong either to the purely public sector or to the private contractor (concessionaires). Methods: We prepared a pilot questionnaire, which was amended by using an Exploratory (EFA) and a Conformal Analysis (CFA) into a final questionnaire. We used the final questionnaire on 400 patients in an institution that belongs to the purely public sector and 400 patients at the concessionaire. Results: Thus, there were 800 patients involved in the research. In general, it bears mentioning that the evaluations given by these health services users were very high, regardless of their place of treatment. In all categories which we used for defining the comprehension of the health service, except for the comprehension of price, the answers at the concessionaire were statistically of more significant value. Conclusion: We can establish that, regardless of the provider, the general preception of healthcare services is very high. However, our study, which was limited by the number, as well as by the type of provider, confirmed that the patients who also visit the concessionaire gave us a significantly higher grade except in the price category. In our opinion, the methodology and the questionnaire are a good basis for similar studies in the future.