A joint weighting and modified weighted aggregated sumproduct assessment-based methodology for the measurementof patient satisfaction: Evidence from Indian healthcare

Abstract

In recent times, the increasing healthcare spending due to the rising health awarenesssignifies the importance of identifying the appropriate factors that influence patient satis-faction, weight assignment to these factors, and measurement of patient satisfactionbecomes important. However, devising a robust objective weighting method for weightassignment of the factors and an analytical method for determining patient satisfactionscores has not been paid enough attention. Motivated by these issues, this work focuseson devising a robust objective weighting method for weight assignment of the factorsthat influence patient satisfaction, an analytical method for determining patient satisfac-tion, and real-life implementation. We first propose a joint weighting methodology toallocate the weights to the factors by integrating the weights determined by differentobjective weighting methods, namely, mean weight, SD, entropy, criteria importancethrough intercriteria correlation, and preference selection index-based approaches. Next,using the weights of these factors, we design a modified weighted aggregated sum prod-uct assessment method to determine a single patient satisfaction score by integratingthe scores obtained from the weighted sum model and the weighted product model. Theproposed methodology is applied to a real-world dataset provided by a large healthcareprovider and diagnostic clinic in Kolkata, India, to exhibit the real-life implementation.The theoretical insights obtained through non-parametric tests highlight the significantdifference between joint weighting-based and single weighting-based methods. Thecontext-specific insights signify that the patients suffering from arthritis and hyper-lipidaemia exhibit lower satisfaction. Also, the patients suffering from dengue expresslower satisfaction than the patients suffering from malaria. Additionally, the healthcareprovider should focus on improving the service quality of the departments such as oph-thalmology, ENT, and dietician.