The objective of this study was to identify patient preferences for outpatient diagnostic imaging services and analyze how patients make trade-offs between attributes of these services using a discrete choice experiment (DCE). We used a DCE with 14 choice questions asking which imaging locations patients would prefer. We used latent class analysis to analyze preference heterogeneity between different patient groups and to estimate the relative value they assign to different attributes of imaging services. Our analysis showed that the “Experienced Patients” subgroup generally value diagnostic imaging services in both acute and chronic situations and had a strong preference for hospital outpatient radiology departments (HORD) that would provide services at lower costs, where their images would be interpreted by a specialty radiologist, the clinic would be recommended by their PCP, online scheduling would be available, service rating were higher, and travel and wait times would be shorter. New Patients significantly valued the service rating of the hospital outpatient radiology departments (HORD) and online scheduling. HORDs can be more competitive by providing services that live up to expectations better than available retail radiology clinics (RRCs). Most RRCs do not currently offer online scheduling so ease of use may also steer patients towards HORDs. HORDs have the advantage of being linked to the main medical center which has the reputation of having clinical expertise and more sophisticated technology. We conclude that there is room for medical centers to build HORDs that provide an appealing and competitive alternative to current RRC.

中文翻译：

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患者对诊断成像服务的偏好：是否分散？

本研究的目的是确定患者对门诊诊断成像服务的偏好，并使用离散选择实验 (DCE) 分析患者如何在这些服务的属性之间进行权衡。我们使用包含 14 个选择问题的 DCE，询问患者更喜欢哪些成像位置。我们使用潜在类别分析来分析不同患者群体之间的偏好异质性，并估计他们分配给成像服务不同属性的相对价值。我们的分析表明，“有经验的患者”亚组通常重视急性和慢性情况下的诊断成像服务，并且强烈偏爱能够以较低成本提供服务的医院门诊放射科 (HORD)，他们的图像将由专业放射科医生，诊所将由他们的 PCP 推荐，可以在线预约，服务评级更高，出行和等待时间会更短。新患者非常看重医院门诊放射科（HORD）的服务评价和在线预约。HORD 可以通过提供比零售放射诊所 (RRC) 更好的服务来提高竞争力。大多数 RRC 目前不提供在线预约，因此易用性也可能会引导患者选择 HORD。HORD 的优势在于与主要医疗中心相连，该中心享有临床专业知识和更先进技术的声誉。我们的结论是，医疗中心有建立 HORD 的空间，为当前的 RRC 提供有吸引力且有竞争力的替代方案。