The Theoretical and Empirical Study on the Demand of Rural Medical Services Based on Gravity Model / 中国卫生经济

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the influencing factors of the rural medical service demand. Methods: The gravity model of medical service demand was derived based on Individual utility function and profit objective function of medical institutions, and the data regression examine model of some county-level and district-level hospital were used. Results: According to the research, the main factors influenced the quantity of medical services come from medical supplies. With the increase of resident disposable income, the elasticity of demand for medical services decreased, while visiting distance of elasticity of demand for medical services increased. Conclusion: To increase the accessibility of medical service, it needs to set meeting the resident’s personal demand as the center, to promote the development of private hospitals. The scale of large hospitals should be limited so as to lead large-scale hospitals to separate low value-added medical services and to promote effective implementation of the treatment classification system.