Satisfaction of Patients with Rural Insurance in Terms of the First and Second Levels of Health Services Presentation in Northern Provinces of Iran

Abstract Satisfaction has been a concept of high importance in today's health care services and is considered as one of the criteria in evaluating the quality of services. The present study has been conducted to evaluate the satisfaction level of patients with rural insurance in terms of the first and second levels of health services presentation in northern provinces of Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the second half of the year (2012); 139 centers (25%) implementing rural insurance and family physician program were selected through systematic random sampling as the research samples and 6 out of 8 patients with insurance, who received required services after being referred to the second level by FPs, were evaluated. Data-collecting instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, and the validity and reliability were confirmed. Data were analyzed by SPSS17 statistical software at the significance level of p<0.05. From the 955 patients who received services after referral to the first and second levels, 752 patients (78.7%) were female. The mean age of patients was 40.2±15.6 years and the mean referral of patients during the 9 months of (2012) was found to be 8±8.4 to home health and 6.4±6.6 to healthcare centers. Out of the 5 scores for level of patients satisfaction, 4.5±0.5, 4±0.7 and 4±0.8 were allocated to home health, healthcare centers, and second level hospitals and specialists, respectively. There was an inverse relationship between the overall satisfaction and education level and a direct relationship between satisfaction and age, number of referral to home health and healthcare centers (P<0.05). A significant difference was observed in the mean level of patients′ satisfaction with second level hospitals and clinics in northern provinces of Iran (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was found in the patients’ satisfaction level between home health and healthcare centers (P>0.05). The results showed a high level of satisfaction in patients with rural insurance. While maintaining and improving the existing condition, it is proposed that satisfaction levels of patients with other health insurances be compared and evaluated.