title: Upstream or downstream. Determinants of consumer willingness to recommend an HMO.
abstract: Understanding the attributes that explain an HMO members' willingness to recommend a health plan is considered by many to be critical in a competitive managed care market. The study reported in this article examines the relationship between provider panel composition on overall willingness to recommend a health plan. Our results indicate that a strong association exists between an HMO member's available choice of primary care physician and recommendation of their primary care physician with overall HMO members' recommendation of the health plan. Interestingly, a member's recommendations of hospitals and specialists did not influence HMO member's willingness to recommend a health plan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Administration, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Shewchuk
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000592:standards; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015146:Midwestern United States; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000592:standards*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000592:standards; D013219:State Government; D013689:Telephone