Using queue to signal quality in primary care: The need for further empirical investigation

• Published in: The International journal of health planning and management Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 394 - 396
• Main Authors: Srivatsa Srinivas, S., Marathe, Rahul R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-01-2020
• Subjects: Health administration; Health care; Hypotheses; Markov analysis; Primary care; Quality; queue; Queues; signal; Signal quality; Waiting times; primary care; signal; queue; quality
• ISSN: 0749-6753; 1099-1751
• DOI: 10.1002/hpm.2907

Summary
In recent times, signalling quality via queues for generic services has received significant attention. However, the literature till date on primary care services has focussed on the optimal speed‐quality trade‐off to ensure higher service times and lower waiting times for the patients. Borrowing from the queue management literature on generic services, we aim to understand whether the hypothesis that queue is a signal of physician's quality is reasonable. Based on theoretical arguments, we justify the need to investigate this hypothesis on queue acting as a signal of quality in primary care. Although we conjecture that the queue length on arrival may act as a signal of quality, the waiting experienced after joining the queue is still considered expensive.