Impact of ‘customer relationship management (CRM) software’ on patient satisfaction in public hospitals of urban West Bengal, India: An empirical analysis

Abstract

Healthcare has transformed drastically over the course of the past few years. It has become one of the most sought after services in India today. Majority of the Indian population bank on the diagnostic services as well as treatment offered by the public hospitals today as they do not have the financial resources required to seek services from the private healthcare institutions. As a result, the pressure incurred in these institutions is humongous. However, the use of CRM technology could be used to ease up a little bit of this pressure. The objective of this paper is to identify and further analyse the various factors which affect the patient satisfaction in a positive manner by the implementation of CRM technology in the private hospitals of West Bengal. Both primary as well as secondary data was used in this study. Primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire using a 5 point Likert scale. 289 responses were catalogued. The study was limited to the state of West Bengal, India. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) through SPSS Software and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through AMOS Software were used as statistical tools. It was found out that several factors like service quality; maintenance of patient data, organizational culture as well as employee satisfaction through the usage of CRM technology has a very deep impact on patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction, in turn helps the hospital to develop a strong relationship with the patients in the long run, which further results in patient loyalty and patient retention.