The Demands for Outpatient Care in Private Hospitals

Improvement of per capita income will boost the demand for outpatient care and lead enhanced expectation of service quality of hospital. People perceived that private hospital has better services than public hospital. Based on these, we assumed that private hospital users have particular characteristics. This study aimed to investigate factors associated with utilization of private hospitals for outpatient care and who get the benefits, the rich or the poor. This study used data of 42,540 respondents from IFLS-4 collected in 2007. Analyses showed the higher the income the higher the demand. Insured’s groups have higher demand than uninsured. Demand analyses revealed that increased price of private hospital caused higher demand. This evidence indicated that outpatient care of private hospital was perceived as luxuries goods. However increased price of public hospital did not influence the demand of private hospital. It is indicate that private hospital has different type with patients of public hospital. It means that the two types of hospital comprise different segment of patients. The rich benefited more outpatient care in private hospital than the poor. It implies that the government should enforced Ministry of Health’s regulation on hospital social function. Keywords: demand, elasticity, outpatient care, private hospital Abstrak Peningkatan pendapatan per kapita menaikkan permintaan rawat jalan dan harapan mutu pelayanan rumah sakit. Masyarakat memiliki persepsi pelayanan rumah sakit swasta lebih bermutu daripada rumah sakit pemerintah, sehingga terdapat asumsi pelanggan rumah sakit swasta mempunyai karakteristik khusus. Tujuan studi ini adalah menginvestigasi berbagai faktor yang berhubungan dengan utilisasi rawat jalan dan kelompok yang mendapat manfaat. Studi ini menggunakan 42.540 responden rumah sakit swasta IFLS-4 tahun 2007. Semakin tinggi pendapatan semakin tinggi pula permintaan, kelompok jaminan/asuransi mempunyai permintaan yang lebih tinggi daripada non-jaminan. Kenaikan tarif rawat jalan rumah sakit swasta yang dipersepsi masyarakat sebagai barang mewah meningkatkan permintaan. Namun, kenaikan tarif rawat jalan rumah sakit pemerintah tidak memengaruhi permintaan rawat jalan rumah sakit swasta. Hal tersebut mengindikasikan karakteristik pasien rumah sakit swasta yang berbeda dari rumah sakit pemerintah. Kelompok kaya mendapatkan manfaat rawat jalan rumah sakit swasta lebih besar daripada kelompok miskin. Untuk mengoreksi keadaan ini pemerintah perlu menegakkan peraturan menteri kesehatan tentang fungsi sosial rumah sakit. Kata kunci: permintaan, elastisitas, rawat jalan, rumah sakit swast