Doctor Shopping Behavior Among Cancer Patients: A Nationwide Population-based Study in Taiwan

Abstract

Objective In this study, we used a nationwide population-based dataset in Taiwan to explore the clinical doctor shopping behavior (DSB) phenomenon and possible contributing factors that influence the choice to engage in DSB among cancer patients. Methods A five-year nationwide population-based dataset was used. Of 62,155 cancer patients with DSB, 52,165 patients were included as our study sample. Results The distribution rate of DSB was 83.93%, which was much higher than the rate reported in other questionnaire-designed research. The regression analysis showed strong associations between DSB and age, monthly income, residence area, urbanization level, and hospital type. Older patients were less likely (p < 0.001) to engage in DSB than patients who were younger than 40 years. Patients with incomes over the mean wage were 1.333 times (p < 0.001) more likely than the no-income group to engage in DSB. Patients at hospitals located in urban areas were 1.122 times more likely to engage in DSB (p < 0.01) than patients in rural areas; however, patients in highly urbanized areas were 0.859-times less likely (p < 0.001) to engage in DSB than patients in rural areas. Patients in Chinese-medicine hospitals were 4.741 times (p < 0.001) more likely to engage in DSB than patients in public hospitals. Conclusion The results of this study should alert government officials of potential factors affecting DSB by cancer patients and thereby prevent the misuse of medical resources.