The impact of competition on patient satisfaction with quality of health care

Introduction. The study of competition in the medical services market is essential both from the point of view of economic efficiency and of ensuring a high level of health care and satisfaction of the population. The article aims to analyze the impact of competition in the service market on patients’ satisfaction with the quality of medical care. Materials and methods. The materials were studies published in peer-reviewed journals presenting relevant data and theoretical foundations for analyzing competition in healthcare. The coefficient of satisfaction with the quality of medical services was used. Results of the study. The authors proposed the coefficient of satisfaction with the ratio ‘price-quality’ and allowed establishing what exactly (price or quality) the consumer is dissatisfied with. The ratio variants of the indicators Up and Uq reflect different states of consumer satisfaction which can be divided into four segments: I) the consumer is satisfied with both price and quality; II) the consumer is satisfied with neither price nor quality; III) the consumer is satisfied with price but not quality; IV) the consumer is satisfied with quality but not price. The proposed coefficient can be used not only to analyze the situation in the market of medical services but also for subsequently monitoring the effectiveness of the healthcare system model. Conclusion. Publishing information on medical services quality to create a transparent environment will promote competition between institutions. It is necessary to implement systems for assessing the quality of medical services with the possibility of comparison between institutions.