Choice of physician, private payment and patient satisfaction. Is there any relationship?

To investigate the acceptance of privatisation of outpatient services in public hospitals during an ongoing Hellenic care reform, a patient survey was conducted. A similar questionnaire, using telephone interviews addressed to a sample of 700 patients who visited the outpatient department of a hospital, where medical services are provided free of charge in the morning and for cash in the afternoon. Finally, 570 patients accepted to participate in our study (response rate 81.4%). Results show that patients with a higher income visit private outpatient departments more frequently and express more satisfaction with the services provided. The same percentages, which reach almost 98%, recommend these services to their friends or relatives as with the monetary value bestowed for this purpose.