Health policy
-
I analyze the relationship between health care institutions and the utilization of outpatient services by individuals aged 50 and above. I use cross-sectional micro data from thirteen European countries. ⋯ I estimate the utilization of private specialist care to be higher in countries where copayments are required for public specialist care, and where the general practitioners have gatekeeper role. These estimated associations with private specialist care utilization are relatively large in magnitude, and are driven by individuals in the top income quartile.
-
The combination of public and private medical practice is widespread in many health systems and has important consequences for health care cost and quality. However, its forms and prevalence vary widely and are poorly understood. This paper examines factors associated with public and private sector work by medical specialists using a nationally representative sample of Australian doctors. ⋯ Both specialists in mixed practice and private practice differ from public sector specialists with regard to their annual earnings, sources of income, maternity and other leave taken and number of practice locations. Public sector specialists are likely to be younger, to be international medical graduates, devote a higher percentage of time to education and research, and are more likely to do after hours and on-call work compared with private sector specialists. Gender and total hours worked do not differ between doctors across the different practice types.