title: Dealing with minor illnesses: The link between primary care characteristics and Walk-in Centres' attendances.
abstract: The reformulation of existing boundaries between primary and secondary care, in order to shift selected services traditionally provided by Emergency Departments (EDs) to community-based alternatives, has determined a variety of organisational solutions. One innovative change has been the introduction of fast-track systems for minor injuries or illnesses, whereby community care providers are involved in order to divert patients away from EDs. These facilities offer an open-access service for patients not requiring hospital treatments, and may be staffed by nurses and/or primary care general practitioners operating within, or alongside, the ED. To date little research has been undertaken on such experiences. To fill this gap, we analyse a Walk-in Centre (WiC) in the Italian city of Parma, consisting of a minor injury unit located alongside the teaching hospital's ED. We examine the link between the utilisation rates of the WiC and primary care characteristics, focusing on the main organisational features of the practices and estimating panel count data models for 2007-2010. Our main findings indicate that the extension of practice opening hours significantly lowers the number of attendances, after controlling for General Practitioner's and practice's characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Department of Economics and Advanced School for Healthcare Policies, Piazza Scaravilli 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: cristina.ugolini@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ugolini
authors.affiliation: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Department of Economics and Advanced School for Healthcare Policies, Piazza Scaravilli 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: matteo.lippibruni2@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lippi Bruni
authors.affiliation: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Department of Economics and Advanced School for Healthcare Policies, Piazza Scaravilli 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: irene.mammi@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mammi
authors.affiliation: Health Department of Emilia-Romagna, Viale Aldo Moro, 21, 40127 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: adonatini@regione.emilia-romagna.it.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Donatini
authors.affiliation: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Department of Economics and Advanced School for Healthcare Policies, Piazza Scaravilli 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: gianluca.fiorentini@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fiorentini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D036262:Empirical Research; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Avoidable attendance; Panel count data models; Primary care; Walk-in Centres