Does the Extension of Primary Care Practice Opening Hours Reduce the Use of Emergency Services?
Quaderni - Working Paper DSE N° 978
31 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2014
Date Written: November 14, 2014
Abstract
Over-crowding in Emergency Departments (EDs) generates potential inefficiencies. Using regional administrative data, we investigate the impact of an increase in the accessibility of primary care on ED visits in Italy. We test whether extending practice opening hours up to 12 hours/day reduces inappropriate ED visits. We estimate count data models, considering different measures for ED visits recorded at the list level. Since the extension programme is voluntary, we also account for the potential endogeneity of participation, using a two-stage residual inclusion and a GMM approach. Our results show that improving primary care accessibility favours a more appropriate use of EDs.
Keywords: count data models, emergency services, GMM, health econometrics, primary care, two-stage residual inclusion
JEL Classification: I11, I18, C31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation