Work

Factors That Motivate Provider Switching: The Patients' Perspective

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To generate evidence regarding the specific critical incidents that prompt patients to switch care providers. STUDY SETTING AND DESIGN: Building on existing work on customer switching behavior, we applied the critical incident technique (CIT) to the health services research context and analyzed primary data obtained from 555 US-based patients who reported switching providers between 2018 and 2022 to develop a typology of the critical incidents that prompt patients to switch healthcare providers. DATA SOURCES AND ANALYTIC SAMPLE: Data were obtained from an online survey of adult US-based patients who reported switching primary care providers (PCPs) for non-insurance-related reasons. The survey was conducted from August to September 2022 using a quota sampling approach. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found eight critical incident categories associated with patient switching: service encounter failures, pricing, competitor attraction, inconvenience, core service failures, involuntary switching, breakdown in shared decision-making, and service environment perception. CONCLUSION: We offer explanations and suggest potentially useful evidence-based strategies for further investigation.

Source: Health Services Research

DOI: 10.1111/1475-6773.70028

Authors: Onyi Dillibe, Rahul Singh, Norman A. Johnson

Institutions: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of Houston

Language: English

Topic: Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare

Subfield: General Health Professions

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,750