title: Patient preferences for hospital quality: case study of iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Due to the importance and uniqueness of the characteristics of the health sector, one of the most important priorities of the Ministry of Health is measuring the efficiency and quality of services which are provided for the people who refer to the health sectors. In all health systems, responding to the needs and wishes of patients is a crucial priority.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The main purpose of this study is to prioritize the features of the services from the perspective of patients, by applying the Logit model.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study is a descriptive cross-sectional study and in terms of results it can be classified to an applied study. Data were collected by a questionnaire filled by 330 patients in Imam Khomeini hospital, and for estimating the utility function the software STATA version 10 was applied. In this study the preferences of patients who admitted to hospitals were identified by calculating the marginal utility of the characteristics, where we also used Marginal Rate substitutions (MRS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Determination of the marginal utility characteristics shows that the first priority in receiving hospital services is the type of examination, and the last priority in the cleaning service of the sections and restrooms . Waiting time between hospital arrivals and admission has a negative sign which indicates a negative impact on patient preference.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study are consistent with studies by Kara Hanson and Barbara Mc Clean, where in their study they also showed that by the patient's perspective, hospital examination is the most important quality characteristic (coefficient = 2.78). In other words, the ultimate purpose of the hospital visit is the quality of service and examination, where many patients are willing to wait longer or pay higher costs to get the best services.
authors.affiliation: Health Management and Economics Research Center, Facyulty of Health Management and Information Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Yasser
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jouyani
authors.affiliation: Medical Informatics Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bahrampour
authors.affiliation: Research Center For Health Services Management, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barouni
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Modeling in Health, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences Kerman, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dehnavieh
keywords: Discrete Choice Experiment; Hospitals; Patients’ Rights