Patient's awareness and satisfaction level of Social Health Security Scheme in the Tertiary Level Hospital: A study in Dhulikhel Hospital

Background: Government of Nepal aims to enable its citizens to access quality health care services without placing a financial burden on them via Social Health Insurance Scheme. It is expected to reduce barriers to health-care utilization while also ensuring equity and access for low-income and disadvantaged populations in order to achieve Universal Health Coverage. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the patient's awareness, satisfaction level of Social Health Security Scheme in a Tertiary Level Hospital in Nepal. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional analytical study was conducted between September 2022 and June 2023 among 423 patients who visited the In- and Out-patient departments of Dhulikhel Hospital and were registered under the Social Health Security Scheme. The patients’ satisfaction levels were evaluated using a short version of the Patient satisfaction questionnaire. The collected data were entered into MS-excel and analyzed using STATA version 13. Results: Among the 423 evaluated respondents, the majority (26.71%) were found to have good satisfaction (90 to 66 points), and 71.87% gave average satisfaction (65 to 42 points). The highest level of satisfaction was observed in the access and convenience domain, with a mean score of 14.52 and an SD of 1.71. The mean overall satisfaction score was 57.82 and SD 3.71. There was a potential association between the number of family members and satisfaction scores. However, most demographic factors were not significantly associated with satisfaction scores. Conclusion: Awareness of health insurance schemes was high among the participants. Most participants rated their satisfaction as good, indicating a positive perception of the healthcare services provided. However, a significant proportion gave average evaluations, suggesting the need for improvements in certain areas.