The effects of socioeconomic status, accessibility to services and patient type on hospital use in Western Australia: a retrospective cohort study of patients with homogenous health status.
BACKGROUND
This study aimed to investigate groups of patients with a relatively homogenous health status to evaluate the degree to which use of the Australian hospital system is affected by socio-economic status, locational accessibility to services and patient payment classification.


METHODS
Records of all deaths occurring in Western Australia from 1997 to 2000 inclusive were extracted from the WA mortality register and linked to records from the hospital morbidity data system (HMDS) via the WA Data Linkage System. Adjusted incidence rate ratios of hospitalisation in the last, second and third years prior to death were modelled separately for five underlying causes of death.


RESULTS
The independent effects of socioeconomic status on hospital utilisation differed markedly across cause of death. Locational accessibility was generally not an independent predictor of utilisation except in those dying from ischaemic heart disease and lung cancer. Private patient status did not globally affect utilisation across all causes of death, but was associated with significantly decreased utilisation three years prior to death for those who died of colorectal, lung or breast cancer, and increased utilisation in the last year of life in those who died of colorectal cancer or cerebrovascular disease.


CONCLUSIONS
It appears that the Australian hospital system may not be equitable since equal need did not equate to equal utilisation. Further it would appear that horizontal equity, as measured by equal utilisation for equal need, varies by disease. This implies that a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to further improvements in equity may be over simplistic. Thus initiatives beyond Medicare should be devised and evaluated in relation to specific areas of service provision.
Moorin
Rachael E
RE
Australian Centre for Economic Research on Health (ACERH), School of Population Health, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. rachael.moorin@uwa.edu.au
Holman
C D'Arcy J
CD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000401:mortality; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D017050:Episode of Care; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000145:classification*; D007350:Insurance, Hospitalization; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D009026:Mortality; D009313:National Health Programs; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020379:Risk Adjustment; D012923:Social Class; D012935:Social Justice; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014904:Western Australia / Q000453:epidemiology