Abstract:
Hospital quality comprises of technical and functional components. What is in the purview of the patient is the functional quality. The patient makes a choice of hospital depending on this functional quality. On the other hand, doctors and Medical Insurance Providers have access to data on technical (clinical) quality. Doctors and Medical Insurance Providers have close interactions with the patients. Data was collected from patients, the doctors who admitted the patients and the Medical Insurance Providers who provided cover for these patients in eligible private hospitals across Kenya using a modified SERVQUAL tool that is based on the identification of the expectation-experience gap. Descriptive and inferential analyses were done. Four dimensions (Interpersonal, Environment of Care, Administrative and Access) were regressed against future behavioral intention (intention to return should the need arise as well as intention to refer others favorably) for patients, doctors and Medical Insurance Providers. The influence of the doctor and Medical Insurance Provider were then discerned. Doctors and Medical Insurance Providers significantly influence patients’ perception of quality. This is in the background that there is incongruity between Doctors and Medical Insurance Providers understanding of patients’ expectation and experience from actual patients’ expectation and experience.
