Patients' choice and preference for common disease diagnosis and diabetes care: A discrete choice experiment

Objective: To examine the impact of policy incentives on patient's choice of health-care providers for primary care and to capture the preferences for general practitioner (GP) care. Study design: Discrete choice experiment. Methods: A random sample of 704 adults and of 181 diabetics were independently surveyed to elicit patients' preferences for common disease diagnosis and diabetes care. Mixed logit regression was used for the analysis. Results: On average, the most valued attribute in GP care are the organizational factors related to whether the provider has sufficient medicine and equipment to provide capable primary care service. Policy incentives, such as reducing waiting time, providing prior expert access, and increasing Medicare reimbursement, can facilitate the utilization of the GP system. Significant preference heterogeneity was identified; specifically, patient preferences significantly differ with regard to demand for common disease diagnosis and diabetes care. Conclusion: The identification of the preferences of specific groups in regard to GP care is an organizational and political imperative. Policy incentives are useful tools to guide patients' health care seeking behavior. To change the perceptions of Chinese patients with regard to health care, policy makers should consider the heterogeneous responses of residents to policy incentives and focus their efforts on key cohorts.