Skip to main content
PMC home page
Health Services Research logoLink to Health Services Research
. 1985 Dec;20(5):579–596.

Visits to the physician: an evaluation of the usual-source effect.

J M Kuder, G S Levitz
PMCID: PMC1068902  PMID: 3878837

Abstract

Having a regular or usual source for medical care has frequently been found to be an important correlate of ambulatory visits to the physician. However, it remains unclear whether having a usual source is a determinant of visits, a consequence of visits, or both. This article addresses the question, how do these alternative theoretical relationships affect estimates of the relative impact of having a usual source on illness-related visits? The empirical results of a household interview survey generally support the significance of a usual-source variable as a determinant of illness-related visits, but they indicate that use of a single equation-estimation technique may overestimate the magnitude of this effect.

Full text

PDF
579

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aday L. A., Andersen R. A framework for the study of access to medical care. Health Serv Res. 1974 Fall;9(3):208–220. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Aday L. A. Economic and noneconomic barriers to the use of needed medical services. Med Care. 1975 Jun;13(6):447–456. doi: 10.1097/00005650-197506000-00001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Andersen R. M., McCutcheon A., Aday L. A., Chiu G. Y., Bell R. Exploring dimensions of access to medical care. Health Serv Res. 1983 Spring;18(1):49–74. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Anderson J. G. Health services utilization: framework and review. Health Serv Res. 1973 Fall;8(3):184–199. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Berki S. E., Ashcraft M. L. HMO enrollment: who joins what and why: a review of the literature. Milbank Mem Fund Q Health Soc. 1980 Fall;58(4):588–632. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Berki S. E., Ashcraft M. L. On the analysis of ambulatory utilization: an investigation of the roles of need, access and price as predictors of illness and preventive visits. Med Care. 1979 Dec;17(12):1163–1181. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hershey J. C., Luft H. S., Gianaris J. M. Making sense out of utilization data. Med Care. 1975 Oct;13(10):838–854. doi: 10.1097/00005650-197510000-00004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kennedy V. C. Rural access to regular source of medical care. J Community Health. 1979 Spring;4(3):199–203. doi: 10.1007/BF01322965. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kobashigawa B., Berki S. E. Alternative regression approaches to the analysis of medical care survey data. Med Care. 1977 May;15(5):396–408. doi: 10.1097/00005650-197705000-00006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lave J. R., Lave L. B., Leinhardt S., Nagin D. Characteristics of individuals who identify a regular source of medical care. Am J Public Health. 1979 Mar;69(3):261–267. doi: 10.2105/ajph.69.3.261. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Luft H. S. Assessing the evidence on HMO performance. Milbank Mem Fund Q Health Soc. 1980 Fall;58(4):501–536. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Luft H. S., Hershey J. C., Morrell J. Factors affecting the use of physician services in a rural community. Am J Public Health. 1976 Sep;66(9):865–871. doi: 10.2105/ajph.66.9.865. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Solon J. A., Sheps C. G., Lee S. S. Delineating Patterns of Medical Care. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1960 Aug;50(8):1105–1113. doi: 10.2105/ajph.50.8.1105. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Health Services Research are provided here courtesy of Health Research & Educational Trust

RESOURCES