Global Journal of Health Science; Vol. 11, No. 5; 2019 ISSN 1916-9736 E-ISSN 1916-9744 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 123 Does the Payment Method Affect Patient Satisfaction? An Analytical Study in 10 Hospitals in Central Sulawesi Indah Puspasari Kiay Demak 1,2 , Diah Mutiarasari 1,2 & Elli Yane Bangkele 1,2 1 Department of Public Health-Community Medicine, Medical School, Tadulako University, Palu, Indonesia 2 Tadulako University Hospital, Palu, Indonesia Correspondence: Indah Puspasari Kiay Demak, Department of Public Health-Community Medicine, Medical School, Tadulako University, Palu, Central Sulawesi, 94118, Indonesia. Tel: 62-451-422-611; Fax: 62-451-422-844. E-mail: sashkata@yahoo.com Received: March 11, 2019 Accepted: April 3, 2019 Online Published: April 15, 2019 doi:10.5539/gjhs.v11n5p123 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v11n5p123 Abstract Indonesia has started reforms in the health system over the past five years, aiming to increase access of all people to health services. At present, there is public concern about quality health services, where the success of hospitals in meeting patient expectations is a major determinant in increasing patient satisfaction and trust. Patient satisfaction is an important measure for the process of evaluating the quality of services to patients in hospitals. However, the evaluation of patient satisfaction based on their payment methods is still very limited. The purpose of this study was to measure differences in hospital service satisfaction based on payment methods in Central Sulawesi. This an analytical observational study with a cross-sectional approach. Samples were taken using purposive sampling technique from 10 hospitals in Center Sulawesi. The samples were 107 respondents for each hospital or 1,070 respondents overall. The highest overall level of patient satisfaction on all elements was experienced by respondents who paid using NHIS (77.50%) while the lowest was felt by respondents who paid with KIS (70.74%). The Kruskal Wallis test results for all elements indicated that there were significant differences in satisfaction levels based on the payment methods in all elements with p-value = 0.000, (p-value <0.05). The results of this study indicated that there were significant differences in satisfaction levels based on the payment methods in all elements of service. Keywords: patient satisfaction, payment methods, hospital 1. Introduction The World Health Organization (WHO) framework has recommended that, in the health sector, all member countries of the United Nations around the world have to organize the Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The UHC achievement target is valid until 2030 as part of sustainable health development goals. This framework has three main dimensions: coverage of the health care system, financial risk protection, and population. The health services department aims to monitor the progress of services such as promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative health services (Chan, 2014; WHO, 2017). All of these are dynamic, synergies, and continuous processes in the midst of the enormous changes taking place in the health system today. Health services must be provided with the best quality and the most economical price possible. Each country faces challenges in controlling the cost of health services and each country have its own policies in applying health insurance methods (Ellis et al., 2014). In some countries, the national health insurance scheme plays an important role in achieving UHC despite many challenges and problems that arise in its application. The success in dealing with these challenges depends on the efforts of key stakeholders, service providers, insurance members, and health policy makers (Alhassan et al., 2016). The implementation of UHC in Indonesia has been carried out since January 1, 2019, with the concept similar to that in other countries, namely that the state guarantees that all Indonesian citizens have access to the health care system needed with effective and affordable service quality. The Indonesian government hopes they can improve access for the poor and disadvantaged, in accordance with the mandate of the 1945 Constitution and Law Number 40 of 2004 concerning the National Social Security System (NSSS).