Ranking the Healthcare Resource Factors for Public Satisfaction with Health System in China—Based on the Grey Relational Analysis Models

Peng, Xinxin; Tang, Xiaolei; Chen, Yijun; Zhang, Jinghua

(1) Background: Public satisfaction with the health system is a very important comprehensive indicator. Given the limited healthcare resources in a society, it is always important for policymakers to have full information about the priority and the ranking order of the factors of healthcare resources for improving public satisfaction. (2) Methods: Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) is advantageous for satisfaction analysis because satisfaction is a “grey concept” of “having a clear boundary but vague connotation”. The data were from the CGSS and the China Health Statistics Yearbook (2013 and 2015), with a total of 15,969 samples (average satisfaction score = 68.5, age = 51.9, female = 49.4%). (3) Results: The government’s percentage of total expenditure on healthcare was ranked as the most important factor for public satisfaction with the health system in China in both 2013 and 2015. The second most important factor changed from “Out-of-pocket percentage of individuals” in 2013 to “Hospital beds per thousand populations” in 2015. Meanwhile, “Healthcare workforce per thousand populations” increased from the least important factor in 2013 to the 3rd in 2015. Disparities in the ranking orders of the factors among regions of China were identified too. (4) Conclusions: The analysis results suggest that during recent years the priority of Chinese residents’ healthcare satisfaction for healthcare resources has shifted on the national level from economic affordability to more intensive “people-centered” services, while the regional disparities and gaps need to receive more attention and be further improved in the healthcare reform of next round.