Building long-term patient-physician relationships

We provide a framework for physician-controlled preconditions that impact patient trust and commitment and uncover the influence that trust and commitment have on three central patient outcomes: retention, referral behavior, and ease of voice. Based on survey data from a sample of obstetric patients, we find that though the proposed preconditions have a significant effect on both patient trust and commitment, the predominance of trust on desirable outcomes such as retention, referral behavior, and ease of voice has profound implications for physicians and other health care providers in the development of patient relationship strategy.