Using Conjoint Analysis to Elicit Patients' Preferences for Public Primary Care Service in Serbia

Abstract

Due to the constant reforms in the field of health care services in Serbia going on in the recent years and the attempt to raise them up to the standards of the developed European countries, a need emerged that the attitudes and the priorities of those for whom these services are designed be heard. Hence the aim of this paper was to identify the preferences of the primary care service consumers in Serbia, having in mind predominantly the non-economic factors and the physician-patient relationship, in order to increase the level of patients' satisfaction without investing large material resources. For that purpose, conjoint analysis was applied. Survey was fielded in Belgrade, Serbia. Out of the 60 patients that were approached, 54 agreed to complete the survey (90% response rate). We found that the cost of appointment is the most important attribute on the aggregate level. Of slightly smaller importance is the option of making appointment by phone, while the treatment selection method is the least important attribute. We also found that the results obtained for a priori defined segments slightly differ from those on aggregate level. On the other hand, using conjoint data we isolated two groups of patients, whose preferences significantly differ from the averaged. The most important attribute for the larger segment is related to physician-patient relationship, followed by the option of making appointment by phone, while the cost of appointment is the last but one by the importance criterion. Accordingly, we have shown that conjoint analysis can provide information to policy-makers to help them more effectively provide an appropriate level of primary health care service.