ArticleBMC health services research2012
Determinants of patient choice of healthcare providers: a scoping review.
Article in BMC health services research, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 181 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
181 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Are patients willing to accept longer travel times to decrease their risk associated with surgical procedures? A systematic review.BMC public health · 2020Pooled it
- Factors influencing choice of health system access level in China: A systematic review.PloS one · 2018Pooled it
- Patient Mobility for Elective Secondary Health Care Services in Response to Patient Choice Policies: A Systematic Review.Medical care research and review : MCRR · 2017Pooled it
- Does charging different user fees for primary and secondary care affect first-contacts with primary healthcare? A systematic review.Health policy and planning · 2017Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the Factors that Patients Use to Choose their Surgeon.World journal of surgery · 2016Pooled it
- Facility characteristics preferred by older men seeking medical male circumcision services in Kenya: qualitative findings from the 'Tasco' study (May 2014-June 2016).BMC public health · 2024Trial
- The Impact of Web-Based Ratings on Patient Choice of a Primary Care Physician Versus a Specialist: Randomized Controlled Experiment.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Trial
- Factors That Matter to Low-Income and Racial/Ethnic Minority Mothers When Choosing a Pediatric Practice: a Mixed Methods Analysis.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2017Trial
- Patients' choice of healthcare provider for primary hip and knee arthroplasty: a national register-based observational cohort study of 62,676 patients from Norway, 2014-2018.Acta orthopaedica · 2026Observational
- Public Reporting Systems in Health Care and the Underconceptualized Technical Substrate, a Core Information Systems Dimension: Scoping Review.JMIR medical informatics · 2026Article
- Urban residents' choice preferences for hospitals at different tiers and influencing factors: a study based on latent class analysis and Andersen's model of health service utilization.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Evaluation of a new design solution for the visualisation of a risk-adjusted hospital performance comparison: results of an end user-centred mixed methods study.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2026Article
- Management of miscarriage: a matter of choice? A mixed- methods research study in Northern Ireland.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Mobility-informed hospital siting for accessible and lower-carbon healthcare travel: an ensemble learning study in Tianjin, China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Bridging theory and behavior for healthcare accessibility modeling: A mobility-driven revision of the E2SFCA.PloS one · 2026Article
- Choice of oncologist and influencing factors: analysis of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network registry.The oncologist · 2025Article
- The Reform That Was Never Completed: Why Greece Must Redesign Its Health Financing Architecture.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Exploring factors influencing patient choice in outpatient ophthalmology provider in the North London region: a patient survey.BMJ health & care informatics · 2025Article
- Developing a Framework for Online Review-Based Health Care Service Quality Assessment: Text-Mining Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Factors affecting general practitioners' referrals of patients to hip and knee arthroplasty: a focus group study from Northern Norway.BMC health services research · 2025Article
121 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn several northwest European countries, a demand-driven healthcare system has been implemented that stresses the importance of patient healthcare provider choice. In this study, we are conducting a scoping review aiming to map out what is known about the determinants of patient choice of a wide range of healthcare providers. As far as we know, not many studies are currently available that attempt to draw a general picture of how patients choose a healthcare provider and of the status of research on this subject. This study is therefore a valuable contribution to the growing amount of literature about patient choice.
methodsWe carried out a specific type of literature review known as a scoping review. Scoping reviews try to examine the breadth of knowledge that is available about a particular topic and therefore do not make selections or apply quality constraints. Firstly, we defined our research questions and searched the literature in Embase, Medline and PubMed. Secondly, we selected the literature, and finally we analysed and summarized the information.
resultsOur review shows that patients' choices are determined by a complex interplay between patient and provider characteristics. A variety of patient characteristics determines whether patients make choices, are willing and able to choose, and how they choose. Patients take account of a variety of structural, process and outcome characteristics of providers, differing in the relative importance they attach to these characteristics.
conclusionsThere is no such thing as the typical patient: different patients make different choices in different situations. Comparative information seems to have a relatively limited influence on the choices made by many patients and patients base their decisions on a variety of provider characteristics instead of solely on outcome characteristics. The assumptions made in health policy about patient choice may therefore be an oversimplification of reality. Several knowledge gaps were identified that need follow-up research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.