[Study on elasticity of medical service demand at the township level in China].
OBJECTIVE
To find out the economic laws regulating medical service demand in accordance with influencing factors at the township level, thus to provide references for further adjusting the medical service demand reasonably in the future.


METHODS
The model of medical service demand was established to measure the elasticity of demand in 49 township health clinics in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007.


RESULTS
The price elasticity of outpatient and inpatient demand was stable during the four periods, and the average value was -0.029 and -0.132 respectively; the average value of income elasticity was 0.973 and 0.977, registering a downward trend in general.


CONCLUSIONS
The medical service demand at the township level is price inelastic, indicating that it is a necessity for rural residents. The downward trend of income elasticity under the influence of some health policies illustrates a lightening in economic burden for medical service demand among rural residents in township health clinics.
Shi
Hong-xing
HX
Department of Health Policy and Management, Peking University School of Public Health, Beijing 100191, China.
Lv
Jun
J
Xie
Yi-ping
YP
Wang
Ying
Y
Jia
Jin-zhong
JZ
Chang
Feng-shui
FS
Duan
Lin
L
Sun
Mei
M
Wang
Zhi-feng
ZF
Hao
Mo
M
D002681:China; D006291:Health Policy; D006298:Health Services Administration; D006780:Hospitals, Rural / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012424:Rural Population