Factors that influence inpatient vs outpatient utilization in the private sector in China : an ecological study

The Chinese healthcare market is a lucrative opportunity for private investors. In recent years, the government is gradually opening up the private healthcare market and encouraging the flow of foreign capital into the sector in various forms of cooperation. In the 12 five-year plan released by the State Council of China by 2012, the government further allowed private insurance and private hospitals to take part in the health sector by offering more flexibilities and preferential treatment to the private sector, aiming to share 20% of the total healthcare market in 2015. The aim of the paper is to examine the role of private hospitals in China and investigate the relationship of factors that influence the inpatient and outpatient utilization of private hospitals in China. Using ecological data from the China Health Statistical Yearbook, data from 2006, 2011 and 2013 were selected for an analysis. Univariate analysis and linear regression model are run on the data with the number of outpatient and inpatient visits as the independent variables and age structure, gender, urban-rural ratio and regional income as the dependent variables for the analysis. The findings show a consistent pattern. The descriptive result indicates an increasing trend in both outpatient and inpatient services to private hospitals. Outpatient visits increased three times from 130.324 to 310.609 (p<0.001) while inpatient visits increased from 2.807 to 22.575 (p<0.001) in the period between 2006 to 2013. The dominant factors influencing the inpatient and outpatient utilization to private hospitals are mainly male, the middle age group (15-65) and people in the Western region. The middle age group accounts for about 7 times (p<0.001) higher utilization rate than the younger and older age groups while the Western region accounts for 60% (p