Factors Influencing Consumers' Selection of a Primary Care Physician

Abstract

There is a growing body of literature regarding patient choice of health care plans, patient satisfaction, and patient evaluation of health care quality, but there is little information concerning the factors that influence the initial selection of a primary care physician (PCP). This exploratory study identifies and conceptualizes the physician selection dimensions which include: physician reputation/manner, physician record, physician search, consumer self-awareness, physician location, physician qualifications, physician demographics, office atmospherics, house calls/insurance, and valuing patient opinion. The study also develops and tests a scale for PCP selection using factor analysis which is demonstrated to be valid, and determines significant differences of variables, which include education level, gender, and age, using a summated scale. The study is of use to physicians in their targeting and communication strategies, and to researchers seeking to refine the scale.

Factors That Influence Provider Selection for Elective Total Joint Arthroplasty

“…Respondents were asked to rank the importance of clinical factors (including surgeon and hospital) and nonclinical factors (including cost, convenience, and customer service) in their choice of provider on a Likert scale of 1 to 5 with 1 = unimportant and 5 = very important. The survey was adapted and modified from a validated questionnaire previously used to assess factors patients consider when selecting a primary care physician [12]. This survey was validated using a split-sample analysis of 222 patients with varimax rotation to test for comparability, which showed the responses were stable between samples.…”

“…Seven dimensions of care were assessed based on prior research on patient selection of primary care doctors and hospitals [12]: (1) physician reputation (eg, primary care doctor recommendation, patient ratings in satisfaction surveys, malpractice suits or complaints about the surgeon), (2) physician manner (eg, the surgeon spends adequate time answering questions, the surgeon communicates clearly, the surgeon values patient opinion), (3) physician quality (eg, the surgeon adheres to accepted performance standards [eg, delivering appropriate antibiotics to patients before surgery], the surgeon's procedure volume relative to peers, the rate of surgical complications [eg, infection or nerve damage] relative to peers, the rate of reoperation within 1 year relative to peers), (4) physician qualifications (the number of years in practice, participation in research, medical school attended, postgraduate clinical training [residency, fellowship]), (5) hospital factors (the surgeon operates in patient's hospital of choice, the total number of similar orthopaedic procedures performed in the hospital, the hospital is affiliated with a medical school, the hospital's reputation among patients and doctors), (6) customer service (the ease of scheduling an appointment, the friendliness and availability of the office staff, the appearance and environment of the office, wait time until appointment), and (7) other nonclinical factors (the surgeon's clinic and hospital are convenient to visit, patient's out-of-pocket cost for a specific surgeon and hospital).…”

“…Patient activation is a previously described measure of health engagement, with four key components: (1) patients believe their role is important, (2) patients have confidence and knowledge necessary to take action, (3) patients make active choices and decisions influencing health, and (4) patients adapt and stay the course despite challenges [7]. As price transparency and outcome assessment of healthcare services have matured, a growing number of studies [4,9,12,19] have examined the way patients select health plans and primary care providers.…”

“…Prior research in consumer selection of health plans, hospitals, and primary care physicians have identified seven broad variables patients consider when making healthcare choices [11,12,19], and these were adapted to the orthopaedic setting. Our second objective was to examine consumers' use of hospital and provider data when planning for a TJA.…”

Mix of Maternity Care Providers in Canada

“…Most research to date has looked at the factors that go into patient' s provider choice decision in the context of health-seeking behaviour in general (Bernard et al 2006;Victoor et al 2012), but studies on determinants of prenatal care provider choice are virtually non-existent in Canada and elsewhere. Existing studies examining the choice of provider in developed countries are mainly concerned with the factors influencing patients' choice of primary care physicians (Bernard et al 2006;Bornstein et al 2000;Grytten and Sorensen 2009;McGlone et al 2002;Victoor et al 2012) and the relative importance of physicians' gender in patients' selection of obstetrics and gynaecology provider ( Johnson et al 2005;Makam et al 2010;Plunkett et al 2002). To the best of this author' s knowledge, only one Canadian study by Liva and colleagues (2012) examines the factors influencing nurses' choice of care provider for their own maternity care.…”