Abstract
Objectives: Although people use health services throughout their lives, there are important differences in timing, location, and frequency of utilization. The aim of this article is to identify and explain these differences in terms of healthcare accessibility. Methods: Outpatient health services—diabetology, cardiology, and psychiatry—are analysed using anonymized data from the General Health Insurance Company (GHIC) in Czechia for 2019. Healthcare utilization is studied in relation to selected geodemographic characteristics—patient’s age, sex, place of permanent residence, and location of healthcare provision. Results: The analysis found significant differences in the utilization of the selected health services in terms of age, sex, and size of the patient’s municipality of residence. Generally, men tended to travel outside their municipality for healthcare more than women. Young patients were more likely (and also further) to travel outside their municipality for healthcare than older patients. Conclusion: The reasons for this were the location of the health service provider (mostly concentrated in local/regional centres), the patient’s ability and willingness to travel for healthcare, and differences in the patient’s permanent and ordinary place of residence.
Highlights
The focus of this article is on the geographical accessibility of health services, which is mainly affected by the spatial distribution of both the population using the service and the health service providers (HSP)
The demand for diabetology services (Figure 1A) and cardiology services (Figure 1B) rises with age, with most patients who need these services fall into the 70–74 age category
Men were slightly more likely to travel for healthcare than women, and the average distance from the place of residence to the HSP location decreased with the age of the patient
Summary
Access to healthcare is one of the basic goals of healthcare systems around the world. Healthcare utilization, as access to health services, is determined by a number of individual and socioeconomic factors and the health system itself, not just the available and demand for them. The main factors limiting service use include cost, material and geographic accessibility, individual, social and cultural barriers, and the quality of the health services [1–3]. The focus of this article is on the geographical accessibility of health services, which is mainly affected by the spatial distribution of both the population using the service and the health service providers (HSP). Limited healthcare services in one geographic area can be compensated for by travelling to another [4, 5]. Rural areas typically have a limited choice of HSPs, and patients are forced to travel further for healthcare [6, 7]
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