1. Primary Health Care Access and Ambulatory Sensitive Hospitalizations in New Zealand
- Author
-
Barry John Milne, Roy Lay-Yee, Karl Parker, Peter Davis, Jessica McLay, Martin von Randow, Phil Hider, and Jacqueline Cumming
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,inorganic chemicals ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Databases, Factual ,MEDLINE ,Primary health care ,complex mixtures ,Health Services Accessibility ,Young Adult ,Ambulatory care ,Age groups ,Environmental health ,Ambulatory Care ,Humans ,Medicine ,Child ,Socioeconomic differences ,Aged ,Primary Health Care ,business.industry ,Health Policy ,technology, industry, and agriculture ,Infant ,Middle Aged ,respiratory system ,musculoskeletal system ,Hospitalization ,Child, Preschool ,Ambulatory ,Emergency medicine ,Female ,business ,New Zealand - Abstract
Ambulatory sensitive hospitalizations (ASH) are those thought to be preventable by timely and effective primary health care. Better access to primary health care has been associated with lower ASH rates. Funding increases to primary health care in New Zealand beginning in 2001 led to an improvement in access. Analysis of hospitalizations to all New Zealand public hospitals revealed that, for most age groups, ASH rates did not show long-term reductions from 2001 to 2009, while socioeconomic differences in ASH rates widened across this period. We conclude that increasing funding and access to primary health care will not, by itself, reduce ASH rates.
- Published
- 2015