Issues underlying prevalence of "doctor-shopping" behavior

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Patient Satisfaction Studies
• Physician-Patient Relationship Analysis

Background:

• Understanding patient behavior is crucial for healthcare quality improvement.
• Patient choice significantly impacts healthcare access and outcomes.
• Previous research indicates patient dissatisfaction can lead to seeking alternative care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate factors influencing patients' decisions to change physicians.
• To compare these factors across different socioeconomic groups (upper- and lower-income households).
• To identify specific aspects of care that lead to doctor shopping.

Main Methods:

• Data collected from individuals in upper- and lower-income households.
• Focus on illness episodes within one year prior to interviews.
• Analysis of reasons for changing doctors due to dissatisfaction.

Main Results:

• 48% of upper-income and 37% of lower-income families changed doctors.
• Common reasons included lack of confidence in competence, poor communication, high costs, inconvenience, and negative perceptions of doctors.
• Hypochondriasis was a specific factor for doctor shopping in the upper-income group.

Conclusions:

• Patient dissatisfaction is a significant driver for seeking new physicians.
• Multiple factors beyond medical competence influence patient retention.
• Patients are increasingly evaluating and selecting physicians based on a broader range of criteria.