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General practitioner visiting rates in Ireland by entitlement category
1Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin.
Irish Medical Journal
|September 1, 1993
Summary
Health status measures significantly impact estimates of healthcare access. Even when accounting for health, Category I membership positively influences general practitioner visit rates.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Econometrics
Background:
- Previous studies on healthcare access often omitted health status measures.
- This omission can lead to biased estimations of factors influencing healthcare utilization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze general practitioner (GP) visits using a nationally representative dataset.
- To assess the impact of Entitlement Category I membership on GP visit rates.
- To investigate the bias introduced by omitting health status measures in regression models.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 1987 data from 6334 adults in a national household sample.
- Utilized regression modeling to estimate the effect of Entitlement Category I.
- Incorporated health status measures into the regression model.
Main Results:
- Omission of health status measures biased the estimated impact of Category I membership upwards.
- Category I membership demonstrated a significant positive effect on GP visiting rates, even after including health status.
Conclusions:
- Health status is a crucial variable to include when analyzing healthcare utilization.
- Entitlement Category I is associated with increased general practitioner visits, independent of health status.