The Journal of Health Care Marketing 

About: The Journal of Health Care Marketing is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Health care & Patient satisfaction. Over the lifetime, 428 publications have been published receiving 10220 citations.

Linking service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intention.

Abstract: Based on the service quality and script theory literature, a framework of relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intention for service purchases is proposed. Specific models are developed from the general framework and the models are applied and tested for the highly complex and divergent consumer service of overnight hospital care. Service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intention data were collected from recent patients of two hospitals. The findings support the specific models and general framework. Implications for theory, service marketing, and future research are discussed.

Service quality measurement.

Abstract: Extending the research on service quality in health care, the authors examine the efficacy of four models for measuring service quality and conclude that SERVPERF methods are superior to SERVQUAL methods. Their study found that dental patients' assessments of overall service quality were strongly influenced by assessments of provider performance. Furthermore, an examination into the causal order between perceptions of overall service quality and patient satisfaction reveals such strong reciprocal influences that it's impossible to conclude that one empirically precedes the other. Finally, the authors found that purchase intentions are influenced by both patient satisfaction and patient assessments of overall service quality.

Exploring perceptions of hospital operations by a modified SERVQUAL approach.

Abstract: The authors employ a modified SERVQUAL approach to understanding the relationships among patients' perceptions of inpatient, outpatient, and emergency room services and their overall perceptions of service quality, satisfaction with their care, and willingness to recommend the hospital's services to others. Three models of these perceptions and related behavioral variables are developed. Dominating these models is a dimension labeled "patient confidence," which has a significant impact on nearly all measures of patient satisfaction.

Measuring service quality and its relationship to future consumer behavior.

Abstract: The authors adapt the SERVQUAL scale for medical care services and examine it for reliability, dimensionality, and validity in a primary care clinic setting. In addition, they explore the possibility of a link between perceived service quality--and its various dimensions--and a patient's future intent to complain, compliment, repeat purchase, and switch providers. Findings from 159 matched-pair responses indicate that the SERVQUAL scale can be adapted reliably to a clinic setting and that the dimensions of reliability, dependability, and empathy are most predictive of a patient's intent to complain, compliment, repeat purchase, and switch providers.

Do patient perceptions of quality relate to hospital financial performance

Abstract: Analysis confirms that patient perceptions of quality are associated with hospital financial performance. Multivariate analysis involving more than 15,000 patients discharged from 51 medical/surgical hospitals shows that discrete dimensions of hospital quality (i.e., medical and billing systems and discharge processes) explain approximately 17%-27% of the variation in financial measures such as hospital earnings, net revenue, and return on assets. The findings suggest that measurable improvements in patients' judgments of hospital quality might translate into better financial performance. The implications of these results and the limitations of the study are discussed.