Preferences of patients with non-communicable diseases for primary healthcare facilities: a discrete choice experiment in Wuhan, China

Objectives: To elicit stated preferences of patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for primary healthcare (PHC) facilities and to explore the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for facility attributes. Methods: A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted through face to face interviews. The DCE survey was constructed by five attributes: type of service, treatment measures, cost, travel time, and care provider. Patients’ preferences and willingness to pay for facility attributes were analyzed using a mixed logit model, and interaction terms were used to assess preference heterogeneity among patients with different sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Patients placed different weights on attributes, depending on whether they perceived their health condition as minor or severe. For conditions perceived as minor, patients valued treatment measures (56.60%), travel time (32.34%) and care provider (8.51%) most. For conditions perceived as severe, they valued treatment measures (52.19%), care provider (38.69%), and type of service (7.30%) most. The WTP related to the change from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) service to Modern Medicine (MM) service was the largest for both severity scenarios. For conditions perceived as minor, patients would be willing to pay 102.84 CNY (15.43 USD) for a reduction in travel time to below 30 minutes. For conditions perceived as severe, WTP related to the change from general service to specialized service and from junior medical practitioner to senior medical practitioner, were highly valued by respondents, worth 107.3 CNY (16.10 USD) and 565.8 CNY (84.87 USD), respectively. Conclusions: Factors related to the provision of PHC, such as treatment measures, care provider and type of service were highly valued. The findings could contribute to the design of better PHC delivery, improve the participation of patients in PHC, and provide some evidence to promote shared decision-making.