Consumer Satisfaction and Perceived Quality of Out-patient Health-care Services

Abstract

Corporate hospitals are a new breed in health-care industry in India. They are attracting a number of patients because of their super specialities. There is keen competition for market share on all fronts among these hospitals. The key task is not only to provide specialized services more efficiently and effectively, but also to maintain the quality of overall services. As it is very difficult to evaluate the technical aspects of health-care, the non-technical aspects of health-care, such as waiting time, procedures, are taken into consideration for study. The service aspects are directly experienced and evaluation requires no technical expertise. This study made a humble attempt at evaluating consumer satisfaction in corporate hospitals. Survey method was adopted to collect information from respondents. Respondents were drawn from three corporate hospitals situated in Hyderabad. The primary analysis revealed that there are no significant differences among the hospitals. Further, the findings of the study revealed that all the stages—reception, examination, pathology, and x-ray/scanning process influence the overall satisfaction positively. But the stages like pathology and x-ray/scanning process significantly influence overall satisfaction. Finally, some directions for future research have been suggested.