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[The loyalty of Belgian patients to their family practitioner]
J M De Maeseneer1, L F De Prins, J P Heyerick
1Universitair Ziekenhuis, vakgroep Huisartsgeneeskunde en Eerstelijns-gezondheidszorg, Gent, België.
Objective:
To determine the effect of a non-committal registration specifying the intention of patients to contact a particular general practitioner, on patient loyalty in Belgium.
Setting:
Antwerp and Liège
Design:
Case control study.
Method:
Medical consumption was registered during one year by two health insurance companies for a group of 4000 participating patients (experimental group) and 4000 non-participants (control group) within two selected areas (Antwerp and Liège). Patient loyalty was measured by means of the normalised usual provider continuity index.
Results:
No relevant differences were found between the experimental group and the control group. Even when taking into account that a general practitioner is not available 20% of the time, the proportion of loyal patients hardly reached 70%.
Conclusion:
A non-committal registration had no influence on patient loyalty. There is a clear difference between intention and actual behaviour. More coercive measures are needed to reach a more loyal behaviour.