[What does affect the general practitioners' choice of contract and plans to relocate?]

The aim of this study was to examine general practitioners' choice of contract and location in Norway. GPs can choose between two types of contract: a contract by which they are paid a salary, and a contract by which they are paid on a fee-for-service basis plus a fixed grant.

The data were collected by a questionnaire sent to a representative sample of GPs in Norway (N = 1,639).

Salaried physicians and contract physicians show different characteristics. Salaried physicians tend to be younger than contract physicians and to prefer leisure to higher income. Most salaried physicians were located in rural areas. The following tendencies were observed with respect to location: GPs wanted to move from rural to central areas. Physicians who reported that their workload was too high, wanted to move to an area where the workload was lower. Physicians who reported that they had too few patients did not want to move. Physicians who were often on duty to provide emergency services wanted to move.

According to standard market theory, physicians are expected to move to areas where demand is high when demand in their own areas falls. Our results indicate that public regulation is necessary in order to obtain an optimal distribution of physicians.