Complaint handling and service recovery by HMOs may be more efficient to implement and more determinant of customer satisfaction and retention than other approaches such as improving access to care. The current findings are consistent with research on recovery efforts in other industries. Complaint handling systems must achieve rapid and comprehensive identification and resolution of HMO member problems. Both cultural change and appropriate incentives to re-educate employees within HMO organizations are additional requisites to effective service recovery. The benefits to the HMO of expenditures on service recovery should be more immediate and sustainable than the benefits derived from other methods of increasing member satisfaction.