Primary care patient satisfaction segmentation.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine patient satisfaction with non-physician staff as related to patient demographics, satisfaction with physician, and intentions to recommend their physicians to others.

Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted at two internal medicine primary care clinics affiliated with a major university health system. A latent class analysis was used to detect patient subpopulations based on profiles of response for five satisfaction-with-staff indicators.

Understanding patient satisfaction, trust, and loyalty to primary care physicians.

The authors developed and empirically tested a model reflecting a system of interrelations among patient loyalty, trust, and satisfaction as they are related to patients' intentions to stay with a primary care physician (PCP) and recommend the doctor to other people. They used a structural equation modeling approach. The fit statistics indicate a well-fitting model: root mean square error of approximation = .