IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i6p3227-d767524.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis of the Characteristics of Cross-Regional Patient Groups and Differences in Hospital Service Utilization in Beijing

Author

Listed:
  • Yu Yang

    (State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Yong Wang

    (State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China)

Abstract

When medical diagnostic difficulties occur at local hospitals, seeking high-quality services across regions becomes a priority for many patients. Traditional statistical methods in health care are unable to account for spatial characteristics such as outflow place or distributions of disease type and patient ages in the context of an increasing number of cross-regional groups; thus, these methods are incapable of studying service utilization differences among hospitals. From a geographic perspective, we analyzed the spatial characteristics of cross-regional patient groups who travelled from other places to Beijing and the spatial decay patterns in the actual service utilization of different hospitals in Beijing by using geographic calculations, geographic visualizations, and distance decay functions. We found the following results: (1) It is feasible to study patients’ cross-regional mobility from a geographical perspective. Through interdisciplinary integration, we can explore laws and conclusions that cannot be examined by traditional statistical methods in health care. (2) The characteristics of cross-regional patients who travelled from other places to Beijing were as follows: (a) Most patients came from northern China, and neoplasm treatment was the main demand of cross-regional patients; (b) patients 40–65 years old were the main cross-regional treatment group, and the average age of patients from northern regions and certain eastern coastal cities was relatively high. (3) The exponential distance decay function was the best of all five distance decay functions in fitting the distribution of cross-regional patient mobility to hospitals of different levels, types, and functional areas. The results of applying this function and the centrality calculation method showed that hospital service utilization was least affected by distance and that average radial distances (AR) were greatest in tertiary hospitals (distance decay coefficient β = 0.0786, AR = 664.70 km), traditional Chinese medicine hospitals ( β = 0.0752, AR = 743.52 km), and hospitals in urban extension areas ( β = 0.0782, AR = 693.29 km). Our results can serve as a reference for research concerning the allocation of medical resources and patients’ choices regarding medical treatment.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu Yang & Yong Wang, 2022. "Analysis of the Characteristics of Cross-Regional Patient Groups and Differences in Hospital Service Utilization in Beijing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3227-:d:767524
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3227/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3227/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Halás, Marián & Klapka, Pavel & Kladivo, Petr, 2014. "Distance-decay functions for daily travel-to-work flows," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 107-119.
    2. Puck Beukers & Ron Kemp & Marco Varkevisser, 2014. "Patient hospital choice for hip replacement: empirical evidence from the Netherlands," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(9), pages 927-936, December.
    3. Liping Fu & Kaibo Xu & Feng Liu & Lu Liang & Zhengmin Wang, 2021. "Regional Disparity and Patients Mobility: Benefits and Spillover Effects of the Spatial Network Structure of the Health Services in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Balia, Silvia & Brau, Rinaldo & Moro, Daniela, 2020. "Choice of hospital and long-distances: Evidence from Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    5. Xuechen Xiong & Li Luo, 2020. "Inpatient Flow Distribution Patterns at Shanghai Hospitals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-10, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. R. R. Croes & Y. J. F. M. Krabbe-Alkemade & M. C. Mikkers, 2018. "Competition and quality indicators in the health care sector: empirical evidence from the Dutch hospital sector," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(1), pages 5-19, January.
    2. Anne-Fleur Roos & Eddy van Doorslaer & Owen O'Donnell & Erik Schut & Marco Varkevisser, 2018. "Does price competition damage healthcare quality?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 18-040/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Berta, Paolo & Guerriero, Carla & Levaggi, Rosella, 2021. "Hospitals’ strategic behaviours and patient mobility: Evidence from Italy," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Honora Smith & Christine Currie & Pornpimol Chaiwuttisak & Andreas Kyprianou, 2018. "Patient choice modelling: how do patients choose their hospitals?," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 259-268, June.
    5. Sangeetha Ann & Meilan Jiang & Ghasak Ibrahim Mothafer & Toshiyuki Yamamoto, 2019. "Examination on the Influence Area of Transit-Oriented Development: Considering Multimodal Accessibility in New Delhi, India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Emmert, Martin & Schindler, Anja & Drach, Cordula & Sander, Uwe & Patzelt, Christiane & Stahmeyer, Jona & Kühnel, Elias & Lauerer, Michael & Nagel, Eckhard & Frömke, Cornelia & Schöffski, Oliver & Hep, 2022. "The use intention of hospital report cards among patients in the presence or absence of patient-reported outcomes," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(6), pages 541-548.
    7. Richard Fry & Scott Orford & Sarah Rodgers & Jennifer Morgan & David Fone, 2020. "A best practice framework to measure spatial variation in alcohol availability," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(3), pages 381-399, March.
    8. Jeannette Brosig‐Koch & Burkhard Hehenkamp & Johanna Kokot, 2017. "The effects of competition on medical service provision," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(S3), pages 6-20, December.
    9. Lippi Bruni, Matteo & Ugolini, Cristina & Verzulli, Rossella, 2021. "Should I wait or should I go? Travelling versus waiting for better healthcare," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Milcent, Carine, 2023. "The sorting effect in healthcare access: Those left behind," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    11. Chenyuan Qin & Min Liu & Xin Guo & Jue Liu, 2022. "Human Resources in Primary Health-Care Institutions before and after the New Health-Care Reform in China from 2003 to 2019: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-10, May.
    12. Yang, Xiping & Fang, Zhixiang & Xu, Yang & Yin, Ling & Li, Junyi & Lu, Shiwei, 2019. "Spatial heterogeneity in spatial interaction of human movements—Insights from large-scale mobile positioning data," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 29-40.
    13. Martini, Gianmaria & Levaggi, Rosella & Spinelli, Daniele, 2022. "Is there a bias in patient choices for hospital care? Evidence from three Italian regional health systems," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(7), pages 668-679.
    14. Li Li & Qingyu Zhou & Ting Yin & Zisheng Ji & Lufa Zhang, 2021. "Does the Direct Settlement Policy of Trans-Provincial Outpatient Expenses Aggravate the Siphoning Effect? An Empirical Study on Yangtze River Delta, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-11, September.
    15. Cristian Barra & Raffaele Lagravinese & Roberto Zotti, 2022. "Exploring hospital efficiency within and between Italian regions: new empirical evidence," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 269-284, June.
    16. Van Veghel, Daniel & Scott, Darren M., 2024. "Investigating the impacts of bike lanes on bike share ridership: A holistic approach and demonstration," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    17. Nelson, Hal T. & Wikstrom, Kris & Hass, Samantha & Sarle, Kirsten, 2021. "Half-length and the FACT framework: Distance-decay and citizen opposition to energy facilities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    18. Siciliani, Luigi & Chalkley, Martin & Gravelle, Hugh, 2017. "Policies towards hospital and GP competition in five European countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 103-110.
    19. Compagnucci, Fabiano & Morettini, Gabriele, 2024. "Inner areas matter: A place-sensitive approach for the identification of the Daily Life Spaces in the Italian Abruzzo region," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    20. Azam Azad Gholami & Inge Thorsen & Jan Ubøe, 2024. "An Agent-based Approach to Study Spatial Structure Effects on Estimated Distance Deterrence in Commuting," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 621-653, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3227-:d:767524. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.