Factors affecting the use of physician services in a rural community

Abstract

This paper examines the relative importance of various independent variables for predicting five separate measures of physician utilization in a rural community. The independent variables include socioeconomic, demographic, attitudinal, and health status factors. The results are comparable to those of national studies which find that health status is the primary determinant of utilization. Income, price measures, and travel time are notable for their relative unimportance in this rural area. This suggests that resources are more likely to be allocated on the basis of medical need within a given health care market than across a number of market areas.