An Application of Rating Conjoint Analysis to Study the Importance of Quality-, Access- and Price-attributes to Health Care Consumers

Abstract

attribute importance, Bulgaria, health policy, rating conjoint analysis,

Preferences of Bulgarian consumers for quality, access and price attributes of healthcare services-result of a discrete choice experiment

“…Specifically, age, income and recent use of healthcare services by the respondents seem to be significant factors that influence preferences. As in earlier studies (e.g., Pavlova et al ., ), physician's knowledge and skills are found to be more important for the elderly, those with a higher income and those with more frequent healthcare use. These groups are more likely to choose a profile when the reputation of the care providers is known to be good.…”

“…This is in line with earlier research. Studies carried out in Bulgaria around 2000 show that the reputation of physicians has a high influence on the choice of a physician (Pavlova et al ., , ) and on consumer preferences for hospital services (Zafirova and Kehaiova, ). This high ranking of physician knowledge and skills has been explained by the traditional emphasis on over‐specialization in the healthcare sector (Pavlova et al ., ) as well as by the need of securing good quality services, which is still not always assured in Bulgaria (Atanasova et al ., ).…”

“…As shown by our results, healthcare consumers in Bulgaria value enhanced healthcare provision very highly. Based on the comparison of our findings with the findings from previous studies (Zafirova and Kehaiova, ; Pavlova et al ., , ) presented in the Discussion section, it can be concluded that the strong preferences for high healthcare quality have been constant during the years when it comes to clinical quality (physician's reputation and medical equipment) and have increased when looking at social quality (facility conditions). We explain this by the fact that the quality of healthcare provision in Bulgaria remains overall problematic and unequal across facilities and regions.…”

“…The preferences of Bulgarian healthcare consumers for outpatient services were studied at the beginning of the social insurance reform (Pavlova et al ., , ) showing a high relative importance of quality‐related attributes as opposed to access‐related attributes. It is however unclear how these preferences have evolved over time.…”

“…Based on this, the DCE allows us to estimate the value that healthcare consumers attach to changes in different profile attributes. We compare the results with results of similar studies conducted in Bulgaria about a decade ago (Pavlova et al ., , ). A comparison is also made between Bulgaria and several other Central and Eastern European countries.…”