title: Quantitative comparisons of urgent care service providers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this paper is to develop, validate, and use a survey instrument to measure and compare the perceived quality of three types of US urgent care (UC) service providers: hospital emergency rooms, urgent care centres (UCC), and primary care physician offices.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study develops, validates, and uses a survey instrument to measure/compare differences in perceived service quality among three types of UC service providers. Six dimensions measured the components of service quality: tangibles, professionalism, interaction, accessibility, efficiency, and technical quality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Primary care physicians' offices scored higher for service quality and perceived value, followed by UCC. Hospital emergency rooms scored lower in both quality and perceived value. No significant difference was identified between UCC and primary care physicians across all the perspectives, except for interactions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The homogenous nature of the sample population (college students), and the fact that the respondents were recruited from a single university limits the generalizability of the findings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The patient's choice of a health care provider influences not only the continuity of the care that he or she receives, but compliance with a medical regime, and the evolution of the health care landscape.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work contributes to the understanding of how to provide cost effective and efficient UC services.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study developed and validated a survey instrument to measure/compare six dimensions of service quality for three types of UC service providers. The authors provide valuable data for UC service providers seeking to improve patient perceptions of service quality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods, University of Texas - Pan American, Edinburg, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Gayle L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Prybutok
authors.forename: Victor R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Prybutok
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010465:Perception; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D024382:Professional Role; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Patient perceptions; Perceived value; Quantitative measure; Service quality; Survey; Urgent care