Consumer preferences for a private medical practitioner in a South African township.
Date
2014-08-07
Authors
Mathaba, Zacks Sipho
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
Under the proposed National Health Insurance, all South Africans – irrespective
of race or income level – will have access to both private and public healthcare
practitioners and institutions (McIntyre and van den Heever 2007). Because
patients will exercise the right to choose a medical practitioner for the provision
of healthcare, an understanding of consumer preferences for a private medical
practitioner in a South African township is of paramount importance to
stakeholders.
The study looks at the end consumer preferences for a private medical
practitioner in a South African township. The research problem explored both
tangible and intangible attributes that contribute to consumer making decision
for a private medical practitioner in a South African township. These attributes
were identified from the literature review and included provider’s behaviour,
price, waiting time and location.
Data collection was done by means of a self-administered structured conjoint
questionnaire. A total of 403 questionnaires were returned with 18 deemed
invalid and 385 valid. Of the 385 respondents, 290 use cash to pay for medical
services and 95 use medical insurance. The questionnaire was first subjected to
a qualitative pilot study followed by personal interviews by the researcher to
establish content validity and to improve questions, format and scales.
Respondents’ demographics were spread across all demographics with limited
applicability to the elderly due to their limited representation. Data was then
subjected to SawtoothTM Software’s Conjoint Value Analysis (CVA), interpreted
and contextualised.
Key findings from the research are that both tangible and intangible attributes
play an important role in the respondent decision-making process for a private
medical practitioner in a South African township. Provider’s behaviour was
perceived as the most important attribute and location as the least important
attribute by both cash-paying and medical aid respondents. Cash-paying
respondents perceived price as the second most important attribute and waiting
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time as the third most important attribute. However, medical aid respondents
perceived waiting time as the second most important attribute and price as the
third most important attribute.
The ANOVA test revealed a statistically significant differences across age
demographics and across geographical areas in terms of cash respondents’
perceptions of waiting time; educational levels in terms of medical aid
respondents’ perceptions towards waiting time; geographical areas in terms of
medical aid respondents’ perceptions towards waiting time; geographical areas
in terms of both cash and medical aid respondents’ perceptions towards
location; geographical areas in terms of cash respondents’ perceptions towards
provider’s behaviour; and across age groups, geographical areas and
educational levels in terms of medical aid respondents’ perceptions towards
provider’s behaviour.
The key conclusions and recommendations of the study were that managers of
private medical practices must attract and retain high calibre medical
practitioners, followed by ensuring that an appropriate pricing structure is put in
place, reducing waiting time and identifying a good location for the medical
practice.
Description
MBA 2010
Keywords
Consumer behavior,Primary health care,Public health.