Segmentación y comportamiento de lealtad de los pacientesun análisis clúster en los departamentos de salud de la Comunidad Valenciana

Résumé

Under a health ser vice framework marked by the territory segmentation and the coexistence of public administration and publicprivate ventures, it makes sense to analyze and classif y the health ser vice departments by considering the following objectives: to know the way patients actually behave when the choice of the ser vice place is up to themselves; to adapt the ser vice offer to the patient’s preferences; and to organize health ser vice based on the territory location, thus considering its influence on the management model. Secondary data from the Valencian Community (over two million data) are used in the cluster analysis of the patient loyal behavior (entering , retention and drop out). This methodolog y enables the department clustering based on their similarities, thus explaining the homogeneity and heterogeneity with each other. This analysis shows to be useful for the said health ser vice sector. In addition, the resulting classification provides a guide for the strategic management of the health ser vices (at the macro and micro levels) and goes deeper in the debate about public-private ventures.