Patterns of physician utilization by the elderly: a multivariate analysis

Abstract

The conceptual approach developed by Andersen is applied when explaining physician utilization by noninstitutionalized elderly persons. Multiple regression techniques are used to assess the impact of objective and subjective need, financial resources, availability and accessibility of services, attitudes toward health and medical care, and social structural and demographic characteristics on physician contact and volume of visits. Data were collected through in-depth personal interviews with a probability sample of 753 noninstitutionalized older persons living in a 17-county region of northeastern New York. Results indicated that need factors make a greater contribution to explaining volume of visits than in predicting initial contact. Attitudinal and background characteristics are more important in explaining initial contact than volume of visits. Among enabling factors, indicators of availability and accessibility are relatively more important in predicting initial contact, while financial resources were the most important predictor of volume of visits.