Catchment areas of medical practices and the role played by geographical distance in the patient's choice of doctor

摘要

For a needs-planning system to be able to guarantee to provide the population with universal, locally available ambulatory medical care, it requires information concerning how patients choose their doctors, the size of the catchment areas of medical practices and the resulting distance-sensitivity of the population in relation to each medical speciality. In this contribution a model of opportunity's preference for the health sector is developed. The key parameter of the distance sensitivity of the patients on the basis of real data is calibrated. Furthermore, this contribution empirically examines whether people in their choice of the established surgeons minimize the ways time (expense minimization) or if they are not aware of the nearest doctor, but the doctor of their confidence (act of preferential expression).