IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/esr/wpaper/wp534.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Impact of Free GP Care on the Utilisation of GP Services in Ireland: An Evaluation of Different Approaches

Author

Listed:
  • Gorecki, Paul

Abstract

The successful implementation of free GP care for all private patients in Ireland requires an estimate of the likely change in the number of GP visits occasioned by this policy so as: (i) to set the capitation fee; and (ii) to ensure adequate supply of GPs is in place. The paper examines two methodologies to derive such estimates: retrospective patient self-reporting or recall (e.g. Growing Up in Ireland, The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing); and, GP practice records. Estimates based on six GP practices by Behan (2013, 2014) substantial overestimate of the likely impact of free GP care. McGovern’s (2015) more recent estimates for the HSE, based on patient recall, used in forecasting future demand for GPs to 2025 also appear to be biased upward. The underlying studies, assumptions and papers are not, however, cited. This should be corrected. A proper debate and discussion can then take place concerning the optimal phasing in of free GP care.

Suggested Citation

  • Gorecki, Paul, 2016. "The Impact of Free GP Care on the Utilisation of GP Services in Ireland: An Evaluation of Different Approaches," Papers WP534, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp534
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.esri.ie/pubs/WP534.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brick, Aoife & Nolan, Anne & O'Reilly, Jacqueline & Smith, Samantha, 2010. "Resource Allocation, Financing and Sustainability in the Health Sector," Papers RB2010/3/1, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    2. Callan, Tim & Colgan, Brian & Keane, Claire & Walsh, John, 2015. "Modelling Eligibility for Medical Cards and GP Visit Cards: Methods and Baseline Results," Papers WP515, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    3. Nolan, Anne & Nolan, Brian, 2007. "The Utilisation of GP Services," Book Chapters, in: Nolan, Brian (ed.),The Provision and Use of Health Services, Health Inequalities and Health and Social Gain, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paul K Gorecki, 2018. "The Impact of Free GP Care on GP Utilisation in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 49(2), pages 201-215.

    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. Richard Layte & Anne Nolan, 2015. "Eligibility for free GP care and the utilisation of GP services by children in Ireland," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 3-27, March.
    2. Yuanyuan Ma & Anne Nolan, 2017. "Public Healthcare Entitlements and Healthcare Utilisation among the Older Population in Ireland," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(11), pages 1412-1428, November.
    3. Aoife Brick & Anne Nolan & Jacqueline O’Reilly & Samantha Smith, 2012. "Conflicting Financial Incentives in the Irish Health-Care System," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 43(2), pages 273-301.
    4. Nolan, Anne & Smith, Samantha, 2012. "The effect of differential eligibility for free GP services on GP utilisation in Ireland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(10), pages 1644-1651.
    5. Nolan, Anne, 2011. "An extension in eligibility for free primary care and avoidable hospitalisations: A natural experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(7), pages 978-985.
    6. Nolan, Anne, 2019. "Reforming the delivery of public dental services in Ireland: potential cost implications," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS80.
    7. Ma, Yuanyuan & Nolan, Anne & Smith, James P., 2020. "Free GP care and psychological health: Quasi-experimental evidence from Ireland," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Conor Keegan & Aoife Brick & Edward Henry & Adele Bergin, 2022. "Projected private hospital expenditure in Ireland, 2018–2035: What role for demographics, cost, and Sláintecare?," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 999-1017, March.
    9. Conor Keegan & Samantha Smith, 2013. "The Length of Stay of In-Patient Stroke Discharges in Irish Acute Hospitals," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(3), pages 351-370.
    10. Conor Keegan & Aoife Brick & Brendan Walsh & Adele Bergin & James Eighan & Maev‐Ann Wren, 2019. "How many beds? Capacity implications of hospital care demand projections in the Irish hospital system, 2015‐2030," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 569-582, January.
    11. Walsh, Brendan & Nolan, Anne & Brick, Aoife & Keegan, Conor, 2019. "Did the expansion of free GP care impact demand for Emergency Department attendances? A difference-in-differences analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 101-111.
    12. Walsh, Brendan & Wren, Maev-Ann & Smith, Samantha & Lyons, Se n & Eighan, James & Morgenroth, Edgar, 2019. "An analysis of the effects on Irish hospital care of the supply of care inside and outside the hospital," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS91.
    13. Connolly, Sheelah & Wren, Maev-Ann, 2017. "Unmet healthcare needs in Ireland: Analysis using the EU-SILC survey," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(4), pages 434-441.
    14. Briggs, Adam D.M., 2013. "How changes to Irish healthcare financing are affecting universal health coverage," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 45-49.
    15. Böhm, Katharina & Schmid, Achim & Götze, Ralf & Landwehr, Claudia & Rothgang, Heinz, 2012. "Classifying OECD healthcare systems: A deductive approach," TranState Working Papers 165, University of Bremen, Collaborative Research Center 597: Transformations of the State.
    16. Layte, Richard & Nolan, Anne, 2013. "Income-Related Inequity in the Use of GP Services: A Comparison of Ireland and Scotland," Papers WP454, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    17. Richard Layte & Anne Nolan, 2015. "Income-related inequity in the use of GP services by children: a comparison of Ireland and Scotland," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(5), pages 489-506, June.
    18. Paul K Gorecki, 2018. "The Impact of Free GP Care on GP Utilisation in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 49(2), pages 201-215.
    19. Wren, Maev-Ann & Connolly, Sheelagh & Cunningham, Nathan, 2015. "An Examination of the Potential Costs of Universal Health Insurance in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS45.
    20. Deirdre Coy & Orla Doyle, 2020. "Should Early Health Investments Work? Evidence from an RCT of a Home Visiting Programme," Working Papers 202006, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:esr:wpaper:wp534. 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: Sarah Burns (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esriiie.html .

    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.