Determinants of customer satisfaction with the health care system, with the possibility to choose a personal physician and with a family doctor in a transition country

Many Eastern and Central European counties are reforming their health care systems. The aim of this study was to determine customer satisfaction with a reformed health care system, with the possibility of Free choice of a fam ily physician and patient satisfaction with the Family physician in Sloveni a and their major determinants. We used a postal survey of the patients who attended their family physician's offices during the study period. We obta ined an 84%, response rate. Some 72.9% of the respondents were satisfied wi th the current organisation of health care services. 95.5% of the responden ts were satisfied with the possibility of choosing their own family physici an and 58% of participants were very satisfied with the level of care recei ved from their personal family practitioners. It was shown that higher pati ent satisfaction with the family physician was the most powerful predictor of patients' satisfaction with the health care system. The results show tha t health care reform in Slovenia has a positive impact on the consumers' pe rceptions of health care quality. measured in terms of consumer satisfactio n with the health care system, the possibility to choose a Family physician and the overall satisfaction with the family physician. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.