IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v143y2015icp145-153.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Patient dissatisfaction in China: What matters

Author

Listed:
  • Pan, Jay
  • Liu, Dan
  • Ali, Shehzad

Abstract

Patient satisfaction is a focal concern of health-care delivery and an expected outcome of medical care. Recently, the violent conflict between doctors and patients in China has intensified. Patient dissatisfaction has been recognized as an important concern and an urgent issue in the reform of China's health care. The objectives of this study are to investigate the determinants of patient dissatisfaction attributed to patient, hospital, and health-care market characteristics, as well as to explore the major determinants in the context of China. Data from 2007 to 2010 Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance Survey (URBMIS) are used in this study. A total of 13,336 patients are selected conditional on health-care utilization. Analysis of satisfaction is based on outpatient utilization (last 2 weeks' reference, 6393 individuals) and inpatient utilization (last 1-year reference, 6943 individuals). Satisfaction was measured as ordinal variables (scales 1–5). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and an ordered probit model are applied to investigate the determinants. Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition is further employed to detect the proportion each predictor's contribution. The results indicate that patients' gender, education, and insurance status are significantly related to patient satisfaction. Higher-level hospitals are found to negatively correlate with patient satisfaction. Lower competition in providers' market and a higher market share of private hospitals are found to positively correlate with patient dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, the survey indicates that “medical charges too expensive” is chiefly responsible for patient dissatisfaction. Our study provides empirical evidence on the determinants of patient dissatisfaction in China. In particular, the results indicate that establishing a high competition among various providers in the health-care market will act as a “double-edged sword,” with great policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Pan, Jay & Liu, Dan & Ali, Shehzad, 2015. "Patient dissatisfaction in China: What matters," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 145-153.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:143:y:2015:i:c:p:145-153
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.08.051
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953615301039
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.08.051?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scott Miyake Geron & Kevin Smith & Sharon Tennstedt & Alan Jette & Deborah Chassler & Linda Kasten, 2000. "The Home Care Satisfaction Measure," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 55(5), pages 259-270.
    2. Jonathan Morduch & Terry Sicular, 2002. "Rethinking Inequality Decomposition, With Evidence from Rural China," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(476), pages 93-106, January.
    3. Ben Jann, 2008. "The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition for linear regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(4), pages 453-479, December.
    4. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    5. Karen Eggleston & Li Ling & Meng Qingyue & Magnus Lindelow & Adam Wagstaff, 2008. "Health service delivery in China: a literature review," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 149-165, February.
    6. Wanchuan Lin & Gordon G. Liu & Gang Chen, 2009. "The Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance: a landmark reform towards universal coverage in China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S2), pages 83-96, July.
    7. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    8. Sitzia, John & Wood, Neil, 1997. "Patient satisfaction: A review of issues and concepts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(12), pages 1829-1843, December.
    9. Liu, Yuanli & Berman, Peter & Yip, Winnie & Liang, Haocai & Meng, Qingyue & Qu, Jiangbin & Li, Zhonghe, 2006. "Health care in China: The role of non-government providers," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 212-220, July.
    10. Capps, Cory & Dranove, David & Lindrooth, Richard C., 2010. "Hospital closure and economic efficiency," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 87-109, January.
    11. Linder-Pelz, Susie, 1982. "Toward a theory of patient satisfaction," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 577-582, January.
    12. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, July.
    13. Pan, Jay & Qin, Xuezheng & Li, Qian & Messina, Joseph P. & Delamater, Paul L., 2015. "Does hospital competition improve health care delivery in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 179-199.
    14. Ware, John E. & Snyder, Mary K. & Wright, W. Russell & Davies, Allyson R., 1983. "Defining and measuring patient satisfaction with medical care," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 6(3-4), pages 247-263, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mudan Yan & Mengjia Zhi & Yue Xu & Linlin Hu & Yuanli Liu, 2022. "Inpatient Satisfaction with Nursing Care and Its Impact Factors in Chinese Tertiary Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Linlin Hu & Bright P. Zhou & Shiyang Liu & Zijuan Wang & Yuanli Liu, 2019. "Outpatient Satisfaction with Tertiary Hospitals in China: The Role of Sociodemographic Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Yuping Li & Weijuan Gong & Xiang Kong & Olaf Mueller & Guangyu Lu, 2020. "Factors Associated with Outpatient Satisfaction in Tertiary Hospitals in China: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-29, September.
    4. Ning Liu & Zhuo Chen & Guoxian Bao, 2021. "Unpacking the red packets: institution and informal payments in healthcare in China," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(8), pages 1183-1194, November.
    5. Xiaojing Fan & Min Su & Yaxin Zhao & Duolao Wang, 2021. "Dissatisfaction with Local Medical Services for Middle-Aged and Elderly in China: What Is Relevant?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Zhao, Chunjuan & Ma, Wen, 2020. "Patient resistance towards clinicians’ diagnostic test-taking advice and its management in Chinese outpatient clinic interaction," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    7. Linghan Shan & Ye Li & Ding Ding & Qunhong Wu & Chaojie Liu & Mingli Jiao & Yanhua Hao & Yuzhen Han & Lijun Gao & Jiejing Hao & Lan Wang & Weilan Xu & Jiaojiao Ren, 2016. "Patient Satisfaction with Hospital Inpatient Care: Effects of Trust, Medical Insurance and Perceived Quality of Care," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, October.
    8. Chuan De Foo & Yan Lin Tan & Pami Shrestha & Ke Xin Eh & Ian Yi Han Ang & Milawaty Nurjono & Sue-Anne Toh & Farah Shiraz, 2020. "Exploring the dimensions of patient experience for community-based care programmes in a multi-ethnic Asian context," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beatriz Barrado & Gregorio Gimenez & Jaime Sanaú, 2021. "The Use of Decomposition Methods to Understand the Economic Growth Gap between Latin America and East Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Chen, Yunwei & Sylvia, Sean & Wu, Paiou & Yi, Hongmei, 2022. "Explaining the declining utilization of village clinics in rural China over time: A decomposition approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    3. Xing Zhang & Micha Kaiser & Peng Nie & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2019. "Why are Chinese workers so unhappy? A comparative cross-national analysis of job satisfaction, job expectations, and job attributes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Munyanyi, Musharavati Ephraim & Prakash, Kushneel & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "Locus of control and the gender gap in mental health," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 740-758.
    5. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2014. "Wealth differences across borders and the effect of real estate price dynamics: Evidence from two household surveys," BCL working papers 90, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    6. Marco Caliendo & Frank M. Fossen & Alexander Kritikos & Miriam Wetter, 2015. "The Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship: Not just a Matter of Personality," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 61(1), pages 202-238.
    7. Huong Thu Le & Ha Trong Nguyen, 2018. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: new insights from Australia using unconditional quantile regression and decomposition," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-42, December.
    8. Pan, Jay & Qin, Xuezheng & Li, Qian & Messina, Joseph P. & Delamater, Paul L., 2015. "Does hospital competition improve health care delivery in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 179-199.
    9. Kilic, Talip & Palacios-López, Amparo & Goldstein, Markus, 2015. "Caught in a Productivity Trap: A Distributional Perspective on Gender Differences in Malawian Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 416-463.
    10. Tymon Słoczyński, 2015. "The Oaxaca–Blinder Unexplained Component as a Treatment Effects Estimator," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(4), pages 588-604, August.
    11. Bachmann, Ronald & Martinez Flores, Fernanda & Rulff, Christian, 2022. "Die Lohnlücke in der Zeitarbeit: Eine empirische Analyse auf Grundlage von BA-Daten und der Verdienststrukturerhebung," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 262219.
    12. Sánchez-Jabba, Andrés Mauricio, 2014. "Etnia y rendimiento académico en Colombia," Chapters, in: Sánchez Jabba, Andrés & Otero Cortés, Andrea (ed.), Educación y desarrollo regional en Colombia, chapter 2, pages 59-100, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    13. Azam Mehtabul & Han Luyi, 2020. "Accounting for Differences in Female Labor Force Participation between China and India," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-17, April.
    14. Vassilis Monastiriotis & Angelo Martelli, 2021. "Crisis, Adjustment and Resilience in the Greek Labor Market: An Unemployment Decomposition Approach," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 44(1), pages 85-112, January.
    15. Brandon Vick, 2017. "Measuring links between labor monopsony and the gender pay gap in Brazil," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-28, December.
    16. Philippe Adair & Oksana Nezhyvenko, 2020. "Wage Differentials in EU Transition Economies (2009-2016): How Large a Penalty for Females and Informal Employees?," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 10913129, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    17. Powers, Daniel A. & Yun, Myeong-Su, 2009. "Multivariate Decomposition for Hazard Rate Models," IZA Discussion Papers 3971, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Niels-Hugo Blunch & Maitreyi Bordia Das, 2015. "Changing norms about gender inequality in education: Evidence from Bangladesh," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(6), pages 183-218.
    19. Michal Brzezinski, 2019. "Diagnosing Unhappiness Dynamics: Evidence from Poland and Russia," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(7), pages 2291-2327, October.
    20. Oscar Molina Tejerina & Luis Castro Peñarrieta, 2020. "Unexplained Wage Gaps in the Tradable and Nontradable Sectors: Cross-Sectional Evidence by Gender in Bolivia," Investigación & Desarrollo, Universidad Privada Boliviana, vol. 20(1), pages 5-23.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:143:y:2015:i:c:p:145-153. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.