Preferences heterogeneity of health care utilization of community residents in China: a stated preference discrete choice experiment
Abstract Background To tackle the issue with the low usage of primary healthcare service in China, it is essential to align resource distribution with the preferences of the community residents. There are few academic researches for describing residents’ perceived characteristics of healthcare servi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2020-05-01
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| Series: | BMC Health Services Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-020-05134-4 |
| _version_ | 1828435035770847232 |
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| author | Ming-zhu Jiang Qiang Fu Ju-yang Xiong Xiang-lin Li Er-ping Jia Ying-ying Peng Xiao Shen |
| author_facet | Ming-zhu Jiang Qiang Fu Ju-yang Xiong Xiang-lin Li Er-ping Jia Ying-ying Peng Xiao Shen |
| author_sort | Ming-zhu Jiang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background To tackle the issue with the low usage of primary healthcare service in China, it is essential to align resource distribution with the preferences of the community residents. There are few academic researches for describing residents’ perceived characteristics of healthcare services in China. This study aims to investigate the preferences of healthcare services utilization in community residents and explore the heterogeneity. The findings will be useful for the policy makers to take targeted measures to tailor the provision of healthcare services. Methods The face-to-face interviews and surveys were conducted to elicit four key attributes (care provider; mode of services; cost; travel time) of the preference from community residents for healthcare utilization. A rational test was presented first to confirm the consistency, and then 16 pairs of choice tasks with 12 sociodemographic items were given to the respondents. Two hypothetical options for each set, without an opt-out option, were presented in each choice task. The latent class analysis (LCA) was used to analyse the data. Results Two thousand one hundred sixty respondents from 36 communities in 6 cities were recruited for our study. 2019 (93.47%) respondents completed valid discrete choice experiment (DCE) questionnaires. The LCA results suggested that four groups of similar preferences were identified. The first group (27.29%) labelled as “Comprehensive consideration” had an even preference of all four attributes. The second group (37.79%) labelled as “Price-driven” preferred low-price healthcare services. The third group labelled as “Near distance” showed a clear preference for seeking healthcare services nearby. The fourth group (34.18%) labelled as “Quality seeker” preferred the healthcare service provided by experts. Willingness to pay (WTP) results showed that people were willing to accept CNY202.12($29.37) for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) services and willing to pay CNY604.31($87.81) for the service provided by experts. Conclusions Our study qualitatively measures the distinct preferences for healthcare utilization in community residents in China. The results suggest that the care provider, mode of services, travel time and cost should be considered in priority setting decisions. The study, however, reveals substantial disagreement in opinion of TCM between different population subgroups. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T19:00:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-baa3a27ea614437f822fb814d4bbc098 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6963 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T19:00:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Health Services Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-baa3a27ea614437f822fb814d4bbc0982022-12-22T01:37:01ZengBMCBMC Health Services Research1472-69632020-05-0120111110.1186/s12913-020-05134-4Preferences heterogeneity of health care utilization of community residents in China: a stated preference discrete choice experimentMing-zhu Jiang0Qiang Fu1Ju-yang Xiong2Xiang-lin Li3Er-ping Jia4Ying-ying Peng5Xiao Shen6School of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis UniversitySchool of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologySchool of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologySchool of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologySchool of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologySchool of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyAbstract Background To tackle the issue with the low usage of primary healthcare service in China, it is essential to align resource distribution with the preferences of the community residents. There are few academic researches for describing residents’ perceived characteristics of healthcare services in China. This study aims to investigate the preferences of healthcare services utilization in community residents and explore the heterogeneity. The findings will be useful for the policy makers to take targeted measures to tailor the provision of healthcare services. Methods The face-to-face interviews and surveys were conducted to elicit four key attributes (care provider; mode of services; cost; travel time) of the preference from community residents for healthcare utilization. A rational test was presented first to confirm the consistency, and then 16 pairs of choice tasks with 12 sociodemographic items were given to the respondents. Two hypothetical options for each set, without an opt-out option, were presented in each choice task. The latent class analysis (LCA) was used to analyse the data. Results Two thousand one hundred sixty respondents from 36 communities in 6 cities were recruited for our study. 2019 (93.47%) respondents completed valid discrete choice experiment (DCE) questionnaires. The LCA results suggested that four groups of similar preferences were identified. The first group (27.29%) labelled as “Comprehensive consideration” had an even preference of all four attributes. The second group (37.79%) labelled as “Price-driven” preferred low-price healthcare services. The third group labelled as “Near distance” showed a clear preference for seeking healthcare services nearby. The fourth group (34.18%) labelled as “Quality seeker” preferred the healthcare service provided by experts. Willingness to pay (WTP) results showed that people were willing to accept CNY202.12($29.37) for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) services and willing to pay CNY604.31($87.81) for the service provided by experts. Conclusions Our study qualitatively measures the distinct preferences for healthcare utilization in community residents in China. The results suggest that the care provider, mode of services, travel time and cost should be considered in priority setting decisions. The study, however, reveals substantial disagreement in opinion of TCM between different population subgroups.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-020-05134-4Discrete choice experimentPreference heterogeneityHealthcare utilization |
| spellingShingle | Ming-zhu Jiang Qiang Fu Ju-yang Xiong Xiang-lin Li Er-ping Jia Ying-ying Peng Xiao Shen Preferences heterogeneity of health care utilization of community residents in China: a stated preference discrete choice experiment BMC Health Services Research Discrete choice experiment Preference heterogeneity Healthcare utilization |
| title | Preferences heterogeneity of health care utilization of community residents in China: a stated preference discrete choice experiment |
| title_full | Preferences heterogeneity of health care utilization of community residents in China: a stated preference discrete choice experiment |
| title_fullStr | Preferences heterogeneity of health care utilization of community residents in China: a stated preference discrete choice experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Preferences heterogeneity of health care utilization of community residents in China: a stated preference discrete choice experiment |
| title_short | Preferences heterogeneity of health care utilization of community residents in China: a stated preference discrete choice experiment |
| title_sort | preferences heterogeneity of health care utilization of community residents in china a stated preference discrete choice experiment |
| topic | Discrete choice experiment Preference heterogeneity Healthcare utilization |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-020-05134-4 |
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