Understanding Patient Satisfaction and Loyalty in Public and Private Primary Health Care

Background The quality of health centers, patient satisfaction, and loyalty are three key factors that enable health care providers to improve their services and cost-effectiveness. This study, therefore, aims to determine patient satisfaction and loyalty in public and private primary health care centers.Design and methods Data were obtained from a cross-sectional design of 1470 self-administered questionnaires and analyzed based on mean, standard deviation, and correlation coefficients.Results The results showed respectively a strong and moderate correlation between patient satisfaction and loyalty in private (r=0.767) and public (r=0.54) primary health care centers, respectively. In addition, in both centers patients received adequate medical services, with social aspects as the least important factors affecting patient satisfaction.Conclusions In conclusion, primary health care practices need to recognize the needs that influence patients’ satisfaction and loyalty, to improve the quality of their services.