Service quality and outpatient satisfaction in private healthcare sector: model development and application

Healthcare is widely recognized as one of the most critical services individual encounter throughout their lives, with growing expectations for higher quality and patient centered care. The purpose of this research is to systematically identify and examine the key constructs influencing outpatients’ satisfaction in private hospital settings. A six-dimension service quality model comprising technical quality of care, patient-provider communication, perceived cost, perceived waiting time, accessibility, and physical characteristics was developed and empirically tested on outpatients in private Lebanese hospitals. The findings provide empirical evidence of the effects of perceived service quality, patient trust, and patients’ emotions on patient satisfaction informing the development of the final model. Overall, the study contributes to both theory and practice by advancing empirical understanding of outpatient satisfaction and service quality in private healthcare settings. From a healthcare management perspective, managers of private hospitals would benefit from this framework as a practical diagnostic tool to assess patient satisfaction guide service quality improvement initiatives. Future research needs to examine the tensions between cognitive service quality and affective responses, perceived costs with patient demographics, and a comparison between SERVQUAL with HEALTHQUAL frameworks on outpatient care.