Publication type
Journal Article
Authors
Publication date
June 1, 2012
Summary:
Prevention has been identified as an effective strategy to lead healthy,
active and independent lives in old age. Developing effective
prevention programs requires understanding the influence of both
individual and health system level factors on utilisation of specific
services. This study examines the variations in utilisation of
preventive services by the population aged 50 and over in 14 European
countries, pooling data from the two waves of Survey of Health Ageing
and Retirement in Europe and the British Household Panel Survey. The
models used allow for the impact of individual level demand-side
characteristics and supply-side health systems features to be separately
identified. The analysis shows significant variations in preventive
care utilisation both within and across European countries. In all
countries, controlling for individual health status and country-level
systemic differences, higher educated and higher income groups use more
preventive services. At the health system level, high public health
expenditures and high GP density is associated with a high level of
preventive care use, but specialist density does not appear to have any
effect. Moreover, payment schemes for GPs and specialists appear to
significantly affect the incentives to provide preventive health care.
In systems where doctors are paid by fee-for-service the utilisation of
all health services, including cancer screening, are higher.
Published in
European Journal of Ageing
Volume and page numbers
Volume: 9 , p.15 -25
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10433-011-0201-9
ISSN
16139372
Notes
Not held in Res Lib - bibliographic reference only
#521169