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Titulo |
The Ariadne´s thread in co-payment, primary health care usage and financial crisis: findings from Cyprus public health care sector. |
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Autoría |
Petrou P. |
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Fuente |
Public Health. 2015 Nov;129(11):1503-9. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2015.07.032. Epub 2015 Sep 26. |
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Resumen |
OBJECTIVES:
Cyprus entered a prolonged financial recession in 2011 and by early 2013 it applied for an international bail-out agreement. This presupposed massive reforms in public governance. Health sector was considerably reformed and one of the measures was the introduction of co-payment for outpatient visits to public health care sector. The scope of this study is to assess the impact of financial crisis and co-payment to public outpatient visits in Nicosia urban and greater Nicosia region.
STUDY DESIGN:
An Interrupted time-series analysis.
METHODS:
All outpatient visits to public health care family doctor/general practitioners in Nicosia urban and greater Nicosia region from January 2011 until May of 2014 were registered and analysed.
RESULTS:
Financial crisis did not alter outpatient visits. Introduction of co-payment led to a statistically significant decrease from the second month after its introduction (p = 0.048) (R(2) = 0.329, Q = 23.75, p = 0.137). This decrease was consistent until the end of the observational period and it did not level off.
CONCLUSIONS:
Financial crisis did not affect outpatient visits while co-payment can be considered as a potent cost containment measure during financial recession, by normalising utilisation of healthcare resources. |
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URL |
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26395291 |
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Tipo de documento |
Artículo cientifico |
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Impacto en el sistema sanitario |
Financiación, Medidas de eficiencia/reducción costes |
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Impacto en la salud |
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