We study the relationship between patient choices and provider quality in a rehabilitation service for disabled patients who receive the service frequently but do not have access to quality information. Previous research has found a positive relationship between patient choices and provider quality in health services that patients typically do not have previous experience or use frequently. We contribute by examining choices of new patients and experienced patients who were either forced to switch or actively switched their provider. In the analysis, we combine register data on patients’ choices and switches with provider quality data from a competitive bidding, and estimate conditional logit choice models. The results show that all patients prefer high-quality providers within short distances. We find that the willingness to travel for quality is highest among new patients and active switchers. These results suggest that new patients and active switchers compare different alternatives more thoroughly, whereas forced switchers choose their new provider in limited time leading into poorer choices.

我们研究了为经常接受服务但无法获得质量信息的残疾患者提供康复服务的患者选择与提供者质量之间的关系。先前的研究发现，患者的选择与医疗服务提供者的质量之间存在正相关关系，而患者通常没有经验或经常使用这些服务。我们通过检查被迫转换或主动转换提供者的新患者和有经验的患者的选择来做出贡献。在分析中，我们将关于患者选择和转换的注册数据与来自竞争性投标的提供者质量数据相结合，并估计了条件 logit 选择模型。结果表明，所有患者都更喜欢短距离内的高质量提供者。我们发现，在新患者和活跃的转换者中，为了质量而旅行的意愿最高。这些结果表明，新患者和主动转换者更彻底地比较了不同的替代方案，而被迫转换者在有限的时间内选择新的提供者会导致更糟糕的选择。