The Effect of Service Quality and Patient Satisfaction Toward Patient Loyalty in Special Regional Hospitals of South Sulawesi

The improvement and guarantee of hospital Service Quality in Indonesia should always be in the best interest of any hospital as regulated in Article 40 of Hospital Law No. 44 of 2009. Adequate Service Quality in a hospital would result in emotional bonds and positive experiences felt by patients and family, eventually strengthening loyalty in the long run. Thus, Service Quality is a critical aspect and indicator to achieve patient satisfaction hence behavioral intention to build loyalty towards the hospital and future visits. The aim of this study is to identify the effect of Service Quality and patient satisfaction in relation to patient loyalty in Special Regional Hospitals of South Sulawesi. This is a quantitative study with a crosssectional model. The sample in this study were all patients who had been registered in the database, namely patients who had visited the outpatient service at Dadi Special Regional Hospital (RSKD), Siti Fatimah Regional Special Hospital for Mother and Child (RSKDIA), and Pertiwi Special Regional Hospital for Mother and Child (RSKDIA) in 2017-2019 with a total sample of 269 from the outpatient care, respectively. The inclusion criteria in this study are as follows: (1) Patients from the outpatient care. (2) Patients who had received hospital services twice. (3) Not suffering from any mental illness and sensory disturbances. (4) Patients who are willing to be respondents and consented to fill out research questionnaires. (5) The patient is conscious and is able to communicate. The results that were obtained show that Service Quality holds a significant effect on patient satisfaction. Service Quality has no significant effect on patient loyalty, while patient satisfaction has a significant effect on patient loyalty. The output of this study should be taken into consideration for hospitals to commit to improving the Service Quality in order to achieve patient satisfaction. Increased patient satisfaction in turn will develop loyalty, thereby accommodating the implementation of the hospital strategy and achieving hospital goals.