Prescribing Intention and the Relative Importance of Drug Attributes: A Comparative Study of HMO and Fee-for-Service Physicians

This study utilized the Fishbein Behavioral Intention Model as a conceptual framework to compare health maintenance organization (HMO) and fee-for-service (FFS) physicians. A mail questionnaire was used to obtain data and information from random samples of HMO (n = 73; 50% response) and FFS (n = 49; 33% response) physicians in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas. No differences were found between the two groups of physicians regarding the Fishbein variables: prescribing intention, importance of attributes, attribute beliefs, and subjective norms. The Fishbein Model was found to explain a significant portion of the variance in prescribing intentions of the HMO and FFS physicians.