Factors determining choice of health care provider in Jordan.

1The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, United States of America (Correspondence to Y. Halasa: yarahalasa@yahoo.com; yara@brandeis.edu). Received: 17/12/06; accepted: 12/04/07 ABSTRACT This paper examines factors influencing a patient’s choice of provider for outpatient health care services in Jordan. Factors including demographic, socioeconomic, insurance status, quality of care, household size and cost of health care were studied using a multinomial logit model applied to a sample of 1031 outpatients from the Jordan healthcare utilization and expenditure survey, 2000. The patient’s socioeconomic and demographic characteristics affected provider choice. Insurance was not statistically significant in choosing Ministry of Health facilities over other providers. Patients utilizing the public sector were price sensitive, and therefore any attempt to improve accessibility to health care services in Jordan should take this into consideration.