Rural - urban differences in determinants of patient satisfaction with primary care.

In light of the rising regional inequalities in primary care provider supply, to ensure equitable access is a pressing issue in health policy. Most policy approaches fall short in considering the patient perspective when defining shortage areas. As a consequence, implementations of new service delivery models might fail to be responsive to patients' expectations.

Do patients value a hospital's innovativeness reputation? A multi-method approach to assess the relative importance of innovativeness reputation in patients' hospital choice.

Innovations in health care are costly and risky, but they also provide the opportunity for hospitals to increase quality of care, to distinguish themselves from competitors and to attract patients. While numerous hospitals strive to increase their innovativeness by adopting a costly innovation leader strategy, the question of whether this actually influences the patient's choice remains unanswered. To understand the role of innovativeness from the patient perspective, this study conceptualizes the construct of innovativeness reputation of hospitals and determines its relevance in patients' hospital choice decisions.

Adapting Scott and Bruce's General Decision-Making Style Inventory to Patient Decision Making in Provider Choice.

Objective: Research testing the concept of decision-making styles in specific contexts such as health care-related choices is missing. Therefore, we examine the contextuality of Scott and Bruce's (1995) General Decision-Making Style Inventory with respect to patient choice situations.

Methods: Scott and Bruce's scale was adapted for use as a patient decision-making style inventory.

Understanding shortages of sufficient health care in rural areas.

Background And Purpose: Despite efforts to provide comprehensive health care services and reduce inequalities, most developed countries face serious challenges in achieving comprehensive health care delivery in rural areas. The purpose of this study is to characterize health care shortages in the rural areas of developed countries and to comprehensively explore the underlying reasons for these shortages.

Methods And Sample: To answer the research questions, we conducted a systematic literature review.

Making the right decisions about new technologies: a perspective on criteria and preferences in hospitals.

Background: Decision makers in hospitals are regularly faced with choices about the adoption of new technologies. Wrong decisions lead to a waste of resources and can have serious effects on the patients' and hospital's well-being.

Purpose: The goal of this research was to contribute to the understanding of decision making in hospitals.

An analysis of the influence of framework aspects on the study design of health economic modeling evaluations.

Research and practical guidelines have many implications for how to structure a health economic study. A major focus in recent decades has been the quality of health economic research. In practice, the factors influencing a study design are not limited to the quest for quality.