Real-world evidence: experiences and challenges for decision making in Latin America.

OBJECTIVE: The Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process aims to optimize health system funding of technologies. In recent years there has been an increase in what is known as Real-World Evidence (RWE) as a complement to clinical trials. The objective of Health Technology Assessment International's Latin American Policy Forum 2022 was to explore the utility of incorporating RWE into HTA and decision-making processes in the region. METHODS: This article is based on a background document, survey, and the deliberative work of the country representatives who participated in the Forum. RESULTS: There is a growing interest in the use of Real-World Data / Real-World Evidence in HTA processes in Latin America, although currently there are no specific local guidelines for RWE use by HTA agencies. At present, its use is limited to certain areas such as adding context to HTA reports, the evaluation of adverse events, or cost estimation.Potential future uses of RWE were identified, including the creation of risk-sharing agreements, the assessment of technology performance in routine practice, providing information on outcomes that are not so easily evaluated in clinical trials (e.g., the identification of specific subpopulations or quality of life), and the estimation of input parameters for economic evaluations. CONCLUSIONS: The participants agreed that there are several areas presenting significant potential to expand the application of RWD/RWE and that the development of normative frameworks for its use could be helpful.

Economic evaluation of a multimorbidity patient centered care model implemented in the Chilean public health system.

Multimorbidity and patient-centered care approaches are growing challenges for health systems and patients. The cost of multimorbidity patients and the transition to a new care strategy is still sightly explored. In Chile, more than 70% of the adult population suffer from multimorbidity, opening an opportunity to implement a Multimorbidity patient-centered care model. The objective of this study was to perform an economic evaluation of the model from the public health system perspective.The methodology used a cost-consequence evaluation comparing seven exposed with seven unexposed primary care centers, and their reference hospitals. It followed three steps. First, we performed a Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing with routinely collected data routinely collected. Second, we run a comparative analysis through a propensity score matching and an estimation of the attributable costs to health services utilization at primary, secondary and tertiary care and health outcomes. Third, we estimated implementation and transaction costs.Results showed savings in aggregate costs of the total population (-0.12 (0.03) p < 0.01) during the period under evaluation. Costs in primary care showed a significant increase, whereas tertiary care showed significant savings. Health outcomes were associated with higher survival in patients under the new care model (HR 0.70 (0.05) p < 0.01). Implementation and transaction costs increased as the number of pilot intervention centers increased, and they represented 0,07% of the total annual budget of the Servicio de Salud Metropolitano Sur Oriente. After three years of piloting, the implementation and transaction cost for the total period was USD 1,838,767 and 393,775, respectively.The study's findings confirm the purpose of the new model to place primary health care at the center of care for people with non-communicable chronic diseases. Thus, it is necessary to consider implementation and transaction costs to introduce a broad health system multimorbidity approach. The health system should assume some of them permanently to guarantee sustainability and facilitate scale-up.

Evaluation of a Transitional Care Strategy Implemented in Adults With High-Risk and Multimorbidity in Chile.

OBJECTIVES: Fragmentation of continuity of care impacts the health system's efficiency and increases inequity. It severely affects high-risk patients with multimorbidity, requiring coordinated care to avoid preventable complications. The Centro de Innovación en Salud ANCORA UC, together with the Servicio de Salud Metropolitano Sur Oriente, and the National Health Fund, implemented a transitional care strategy for high-risk adults with multimorbidity at 3 hospitals in the southeast of Santiago. The study aimed to evaluate the impact on length of hospital stay, consultations with primary care physicians and contacts after discharge, and also to describe the implementation process of the transition nurse activities. METHODS: A cohort study was performed between 2017 and 2019, with 137 hospitalizations from exposed patients and 167 hospitalizations from unexposed patients. The results of the study showed a significant decrease in the length of hospital stays and an increase in consultations with physicians. RESULTS: The results of the implementation process showed that the transition nurse followed-up in a mean of 24 hospitalizations monthly, and 91% of the discharged patients were contacted via the telephone within 7 days. The implementation process showed that the transition nurse's tasks merged with the daily clinical activities in which training on case management, transition care, and continuous support were key aspects of success. CONCLUSION: We conclude that transitional care intervention has a strong potential in addressing fragmentation of care and is feasible to install and sustain over time in the Chilean context. Finally, this study provides a detailed description of the intervention strategy contributing to its spread and scale-up.

The socioeconomic distribution of life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in Chile.

BACKGROUND: Life expectancy (LE) has usually been used as a metric to monitor population health. In the last few years, metrics such as Quality-Adjusted-Life-Expectancy (QALE) and Health-Adjusted-Life- Expectancy (HALE) have gained popularity in health research, given their capacity to capture health related quality of life, providing a more comprehensive approach to the health concept. We aimed to estimate the distribution of the LE, QALEs and HALEs across Socioeconomic Status in the Chilean population. METHODS: Based on life tables constructed using Chiang II´s method, we estimated the LE of the population in Chile by age strata. Probabilities of dying were estimated from mortality data obtained from national registries. Then, life tables were stratified into five socioeconomic quintiles, based on age-adjusted years of education (pre-school, early years to year 1, primary level, secondary level, technical or university). Quality weights (utilities) were estimated for age strata and SES, using the National Health Survey (ENS 2017). Utilities were calculated using the EQ-5D data of the ENS 2017 and the validated value set for Chile. We applied Sullivan´s method to adjust years lived and convert them into QALEs and HALEs. RESULTS: LE at birth for Chile was estimated in 80.4 years, which is consistent with demographic national data. QALE and HALE at birth were 69.8 and 62.4 respectively. Men are expected to live 6.1% less than women. However, this trend is reversed when looking at QALEs and HALEs, indicating the concentration of higher morbidity in women compared to men. The distribution of all these metrics across SES showed a clear gradient in favour of a better-off population-based on education quintiles. The absolute and relative gaps between the lowest and highest quintile were 15.24 years and 1.21 for LE; 18.57 HALYs and 1.38 for HALEs; and 21.92 QALYs and 1.41 for QALEs. More pronounced gradients and higher gaps were observed at younger age intervals. CONCLUSION: The distribution of LE, QALE and HALEs in Chile shows a clear gradient favouring better-off populations that decreases over people´s lives. Differences in LE favouring women contrast with differences in HALEs and QALEs which favour men, suggesting the need of implementing gender-focused policies to address the case-mix complexity. The magnitude of inequalities is greater than in other high-income countries and can be explained by structural social inequalities and inequalities in access to healthcare.

The social and health protection of migrants in Chile: qualitative analysis of civil society proposals for constitutional change.

BACKGROUND: A sustained period of social, economic, and political unrest took place during October of 2019 in Chile. As an institutional solution, the "Agreement for Social Peace and the New Constitution" was signed. In this document, most political parties committed to reestablishing peace and public order in Chile, agreeing on the initiation of a constitutional process. To promote participation of civil society actors, the "Popular Initiative for Norms" was enabled. This was a platform where civilians could submit proposals for constitutional norms to be discussed by the Constitutional Convention. We aimed to analyze proposals related to migrants and migrant health. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of the proposals. Sixteen of them were related to migrants, and we analyzed their association to health. We also evaluated their link to the Health Goals 2030 set out by the Chilean Ministry of Health and the Global Action Plan 2019-2023 for Promoting the Health of Refugees and Migrants by the World Health Organization. RESULTS: Four main thematic categories were identified: 1) Humans rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers; 2) Nationality and regularization of migrants and refugees; 3) Political participation and cultural integration of migrants and refugees; and 4) Specific regulations on slavery and human trafficking. These resonated with broader frameworks established in the Health Goals 2030 (Chile) and the Global Action Plan 2019-2023 for Promoting the Health of Refugees and Migrants by the World Health Organization. CONCLUSIONS: The 'Popular Initiative for Norms' was a non-binding participatory mechanism. Although the proposals sent through were not guaranteed to be included in the constitutional draft-and despite the final draft being rejected last September 2022-the platform allowed to gain insights into civilian opinions. Our findings showed that there is an incipient yet weak recognition of the rights and situation of migrants in Chile. There was no direct mention of health nor an explicit contemplation of social determinants of health. Despite there being an urgent need to define strategies for migrants' health in Chile, this study demonstrated that civil awareness and interest are still insufficient.

Cost-Effectiveness of Mepolizumab Add-On in the Treatment of Severe Eosinophilic Asthma in Chile.

OBJECTIVE: Asthma is one of the 4 leading causes of death worldwide. Severe asthma is associated with poor quality of life, decreased life expectancy, and higher health resources consumption such as the use of oral corticosteroids (OCSs). This study aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of mepolizumab as an add-on compared with the standard care of the Chilean public health system (combined inhaled corticosteroid therapy and a long-acting beta-agonist, short-acting beta-agonist, and OCS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A Markov model was adapted to represent the day-to-day of patients with severe asthma over a lifetime horizon. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to account for the second-order uncertainty of the model. In addition, a risk subgroup analysis was conducted to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of mepolizumab across different risk populations. RESULTS: Mepolizumab produces more benefits than standard of care alone (1 additional quality-adjusted life-year, a decrease of OCS usage, an approximated 11 avoided exacerbations) but it cannot be considered cost-effective in the light of the Chilean threshold (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio: US dollars [USD] 105 967/quality-adjusted life-year vs USD 14 896). Despite this, cost-effectiveness increases in specific subgroups, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of USD 44 819 in patients with eosinophil count ≥ 300 cell/mcL and exacerbation history of at least 4 exacerbations in the past year. CONCLUSION: Mepolizumab cannot be considered a cost-effective strategy for the Chilean health system. Nevertheless, price discount in specific subgroups improves its cost-effectiveness profile significantly and may offer opportunities for access to specific subgroups.

Estimation of the demand for palliative care in non-oncologic patients in Chile.

BACKGROUND: Access to palliative care is an emerging global public health challenge. In Chile, a palliative care law was recently enacted to extend palliative care coverage to the non-oncologic population. Thus, a reliable and legitimate estimate of the demand for palliative care is needed for proper health policy planning. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the demand for Palliative Care in Chile. METHODOLOGY: Diseases likely to require palliative care were identified according to literature and expert judgement. Annual deaths of diseases identified were estimated for the periods 2018-2020. Demand estimation corresponds to the identification of the proportion of deceased patients requiring palliative care based on the burden of severe health-related suffering. Finally, patient-years were estimated based on the expected survival adjustment. RESULTS: The estimated demand for palliative care varies between 25,650 and 21,679 patients depending on the approximation used. In terms of annual demand, this varies between 1,442 and 10,964 patient-years. The estimated need has a minor variation between 2018 and 2019 of 0.85% on average, while 2020 shows a slightly higher decrease (7.26%). CONCLUSION: This is a replicable method for estimating the demand of palliative care in other jurisdictions. Future studies could approach the demand based on the decedent population and living one for a more precise estimation and better-informed health planning. It is hoped that our methodological approach will serve as an input for implementing the palliative care law in Chile, and as an example of estimating the demand for palliative care in other jurisdictions.

The legal path for priority setting in Chile: a critical analysis to improve health planning and stewardship.

Health systems have committed their path to universal health coverage using health planning to accomplish their goals of efficiency, equity and sustainability. Chile, a high-income country with a public-private mix health system, has made significant progress through several successive health policies implemented in the last 20 years which have been consistent with this approach. However, in the last 5 years, the national congress has produced several disease-specific laws, which have been mainly promoted by the civil society. These laws indicate the actions the health authority must perform to tackle the needs of the affected population, which ultimately determine the priorities of the health system. We argue that this legal pattern has become an alternative path to priority-setting, as opposed to health planning. We claim this "legal path" is a mechanism used by civil society in a context where the health authority fails to implement a robust and legitimate prioritization process. Although these laws have brought benefits to patients suffering the corresponding conditions, we highlight this approach does not guarantee improvements in equity, efficiency and health system performance. Instead, we advocate for taking back the control of the priority-setting based on health planning, through a new institutionalization of health technology assessment and quality of care.

Health in Chile's Recent Constitutional Process: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Civil Proposals.

(1) Background: In response to the recent political crisis in Chile, the "Agreement for Social Peace and the New Constitution'' was approved. We aimed to analyze the health-related civil proposals uploaded to the official website for popular participation in the new constitution in Chile. (2) Methods: We carried out a qualitative thematic analysis of 126 health-related valid proposals. Moreover, we analyzed their link to the Health Goals 2030, established by the Ministry of Health of Chile and to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (3) Results: Sixteen main categories were reached. In all, they were organized into four main areas: (i) the right to health and the establishment of a universal health system; (ii) effective access to selected healthcare services; (iii) improving health outcomes for all and for the relevant subgroups; and (iv) the social determinants of health, health in all the policies, and community health. We found that these four areas were strongly linked to the Health Goals 2030 for Chile and to the SDGs. (4) Conclusions: Despite the fact that the new constitutional proposal was rejected in September 2022, the civil health-related proposals and the areas of health and healthcare were of interest to the citizens as the request showed a strong demand from the population for participation in matters of health, healthcare, and public health.

Health-related quality of life by household income in Chile: a concentration index decomposition analysis.

BACKGROUND: Health inequities have a profound impact on all dimensions of people's lives, with invariably worse results among the most disadvantaged, transforming them into a more fragile and vulnerable population. These unfair inequalities also affect dimensions focused on subjectivity, such as health-related quality of life (HRQoL), which has been positioned, in recent decades, as an important outcome in health decision-making. The main objective of this study is to estimate socioeconomic inequality in HRQoL of Chilean by household income.  METHODS: Secondary analysis of the National Health Survey (ENS 2016-2017, Chile). This survey includes a nationally representative, stratified, and multistage household sample of people aged 15 and above. Socioeconomic inequality in HRQoL (EQ5D) is estimated by the concentration index (CI) ranked by household income. Decomposition analysis is conducted to examine potential explanatory sociodemographic factors.  RESULTS: The CI for household income inequality in HRQoL was -0.063. The lower the household income, the worse the HRQoL reported by in Chile. The decomposition analysis revealed that socioeconomic position contributes 75,7% to inequality in the quality of life, followed by educational level (21.8%), female gender (17.3%), and type of Health Insurance (15%), age (-19.7%) and residence (-10.8%). Less than 1% corresponds to the unexplained residual component. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest the existence of a disproportionate concentration of worse HRQoL in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic groups in Chile. This inequality is largely, yet not completely, associated with household income. Other significant factors associated with this inequality are education, gender, and healthcare insurance. These results suggest the need of strengthening efforts to reducing socioeconomic gaps in health outcomes in Chile, as a means to achieve social justice and equity in health and healthcare.

El costo esperado de cáncer en Chile / The expected cost of cancer in Chile

BACKGROUND: Cancer is a public health priority in Chile. AIM: To estimate the expected annual cost of cancer in Chile, due to direct costs of health services, working allowances and indirect costs for productivity losses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We undertook an ascendent costing methodology to calculate direct costs. We built diagnostic, treatment and follow-up cost baskets for each cancer type. Further, we estimated the expenditure due to sick leave subsidies. Both estimates were performed either for the public or private sector. Costs related to productivity loss were estimated using the human capital approach, incorporating disease related absenteeism premature deaths. The time frame for all estimates was one year. RESULTS: The annual expected costs attributed to cancer was $1,557 billion of Chilean pesos. The health services expected annual costs were $1,436 billion, 67% of which are spent on five cancer groups (digestive, hematologic, respiratory, breast and urinary tract). The expected costs of sick leave subsidies and productivity loss were $48 and $71 billion, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Cancer generates costs to the health system, which obliges health planners to allocate a significant proportion of the health budget to this disease. The expected costs estimated in this study are equivalent to 8.9% of all health expenditures and 0.69% of the Gross Domestic Product. This study provides an updated reference for future research, such as those aimed at evaluating the current health policies in cancer.

Health and economic effects on patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the long run: predictions for the Chilean population.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is associated to a high financial and disease burden, explaining a large proportion of expenditure of the health system in one year. The purpose of this study was to estimate long-term costs and health outcomes of recently diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes in Chile. METHODS: Cost and consequence study based on mathematical discrete event simulation (DES) model. We modelled expected costs (USD) and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) from diagnosis to death (or the age of 95) of a hypothetical cohort of 100,000 incident cases, simulated based on the Chilean National Health Survey 2018. The incidence of twelve complications was estimated assuming the hazard functions provided by the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study. We explore heterogeneity across patients based on their baseline risk covariates and their impact on costs and QALYs. RESULTS: The expected cost and QALY of a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes patient in Chile were USD 8660 and 12.44 QALYs. Both costs and QALYs were independently determined by baseline risk and the patient's life expectancy from the diagnosis. Length of life since diagnosis showed the major impact on costs (5.2% increase for every additional year). Myocardial infarction was the most frequent complication (47.4%) and the most frequent cause of death. CONCLUSION: Diabetes type 2 determines a significant expenditure of the health system and substantial health losses. Although the control of cardiovascular risk factors and the metabolic control of the disease, both have an important impact on costs and outcomes, the main impact is achieved by postponing the age of onset of the disease.

Cost analysis of chronic pain due to musculoskeletal disorders in Chile.

The magnitude of the cost of chronic pain has been a matter of concern in many countries worldwide. The high prevalence, the cost it implies for the health system, productivity, and absenteeism need to be addressed urgently. Studies have begun describing this problem in Chile, but there is still a debt in highlighting its importance and urgency on contributing to chronic pain financial coverage. This study objective is to estimate the expected cost of chronic pain and its related musculoskeletal diseases in the Chilean adult population. We conducted a mathematical decision model exercise, Markov Model, to estimate costs and consequences. Patients were classified into severe, moderate, and mild pain groups, restricted to five diseases: knee osteoarthritis, hip osteoarthritis, lower back pain, shoulder pain, and fibromyalgia. Data analysis considered a set of transition probabilities to estimate the total cost, sick leave payment, and productivity losses. Results show that the total annual cost for chronic pain in Chile is USD 943,413,490, corresponding an 80% to the five diseases studied. The highest costs are related to therapeutic management, followed by productivity losses and sick leave days. Low back pain and fibromyalgia are both the costlier chronic pain-related musculoskeletal diseases. We can conclude that the magnitude of the cost in our country's approach to chronic pain is related to increased productivity losses and sick leave payments. Incorporating actions to ensure access and financial coverage and new care strategies that reorganize care delivery to more integrated and comprehensive care could potentially impact costs in both patients and the health system. Finally, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will probably deepen even more this problem.

Analisis del proceso de Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias del Sistema de Protección Financiera Para Diagnósticos y Tratamientos de Alto Costo en Chile (Ley Ricarte Soto).

OBJECTIVES: In Chile, Ricarte Soto Law defines a financial protection system for high-cost health technologies through a process of prioritization and evaluation of health technologies (ETESA). This study aims to evaluate the ETESA process in terms of its technical content and its coherence with the Chilean regulatory framework. METHODS: This is a documentary review of 34 reports prepared by the Ministry of Health. A data extraction matrix was applied to evaluate the elements in content and process. The analysis evaluated technical errors, process inconsistencies, and disagreements in interpreting results. RESULTS: From 98 technologies, 59 were considered favorable, and 25 received coverage. A total of 20 inconsistencies were identified in the evaluation process, and 39 disagreements were documented on interpreting the results and technical errors. In the prioritization stage, we identified controversies in 44 technologies. CONCLUSION: The ETESA process of the Ricarte Soto Law is generally consistent with the regulations. Nevertheless, weaknesses persist in both technical and procedural terms. It is expected that the regulatory entity can use these results to implement the necessary improvements.

Cost-effectiveness analysis: fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol for the treatment of moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from the perspective of the Chilean public health system.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory lung disease characterized by long-term breathing problems and airflow limitations. International guidelines recommend using bronchodilators like long-acting beta- and muscarinic antagonists, and inhalational corticosteroids. OBJECTIVES: The cost-effectiveness of single-inhaler triple therapy containing fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol (FF/UMEC/VI) was compared to the treatments Fluticasone Furoate/Vilanterol (FF/VI), Umeclidinio/Vilanterol (UMEC/VI) and Fluticasone Propionate 250 mcg/Salmeterol 25mcg + Tiotropio 18 mcg (FP/SAL/TIO) for patients with COPD from the Chilean public health system perspective. METHODS: A cost-effectiveness analysis was performed, including a deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis over a 25-year time horizon. Two scenarios were assessed to study the effect of a 3%-discount for costs and outcomes on FF/UMEC/VI. RESULTS: The incremental cost-effectiveness (ICER) of FF/UMEC/VI versus FF/VI was $10,076/QALY, being a cost-effective alternative to a threshold of one Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDPpc), while versus FP/SAL/TIO the ICER increased to $50,288/QALY, showing to be a non-cost effective alternative to 1 GDPpc, but at a threshold of 3 GDPpc. CONCLUSION: FF/UMEC/VI appears to be a cost-effective intervention for treating COPD compared to FF/VI. However, FF/UMEC/VI compared to FP/SAL/TIO showed an ICER above the threshold of 1 GDPpc, but, in comparison with lower price, the ICER was below 3 GDPpc.

Estándares Consolidados de Reporte de Evaluaciones Económicas Sanitarias: adaptación al español de la lista de comprobación CHEERS 2022.

OBJECTIVES: Health economic evaluations (HEEs) are comparative analyses of courses of action in terms of both costs and consequences. The Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) original version and its adaptation to Spanish were published in 2013. Its objectives were to promote that the HEEs are identifiable, interpretable, and useful for decision making and serve as a reporting guide. The new CHEERS 2022 replaces the previous one and tries to be more easily applied to any HEE and incorporates recent methodological advances and the importance of stakeholder involvement including patients and the general public. METHODS: For the present adaptation, the following stages were followed: (1) independent translations of the original list into Spanish, (2) blind back-translations, (3) evaluation of their quality, (4) preparation of a new version in Spanish, (5) review and improvement by the author team, (6) preparation of a new version in Spanish, (7) distribution of the preliminary Spanish version and the original one to the American HTA Network (Red de las Américas de Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias) and Spanish-speaking experts for evaluation and feedback, (8) monitoring of changes to the original list under peer review at BritishMedicalJournal, and (9) consolidation of the final adaptation of the Spanish CHEERS 2022 checklist. RESULTS: In this article, we detail the process and the Spanish adaptation of the 28-item CHEERS 2022 checklist and its recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: This list is intended for researchers reporting HEE in peer-reviewed journals and reviewers, editors, and, among others, health technology assessment bodies.

[The expected cost of cancer in Chile]. / El costo esperado de cáncer en Chile.

BACKGROUND: Cancer is a public health priority in Chile. AIM: To estimate the expected annual cost of cancer in Chile, due to direct costs of health services, working allowances and indirect costs for productivity losses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We undertook an ascendent costing methodology to calculate direct costs. We built diagnostic, treatment and follow-up cost baskets for each cancer type. Further, we estimated the expenditure due to sick leave subsidies. Both estimates were performed either for the public or private sector. Costs related to productivity loss were estimated using the human capital approach, incorporating disease related absenteeism premature deaths. The time frame for all estimates was one year. RESULTS: The annual expected costs attributed to cancer was $1,557 billion of Chilean pesos. The health services expected annual costs were $1,436 billion, 67% of which are spent on five cancer groups (digestive, hematologic, respiratory, breast and urinary tract). The expected costs of sick leave subsidies and productivity loss were $48 and $71 billion, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Cancer generates costs to the health system, which obliges health planners to allocate a significant proportion of the health budget to this disease. The expected costs estimated in this study are equivalent to 8.9% of all health expenditures and 0.69% of the Gross Domestic Product. This study provides an updated reference for future research, such as those aimed at evaluating the current health policies in cancer.

Unequal Access and Use of Health Care Services among Settled Immigrants, Recent Immigrants, and Locals: A Comparative Analysis of a Nationally Representative Survey in Chile.

Globally, and particularly in the Latin American region, international migration continues to grow. Access and use of health care services by migrants vary according to their country of origin and residence time. We aimed to compare the access and use of health care services between international migrants (including settled migrants from Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador; Emerging migrants from Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Haiti; and migrants from other countries) and the Chilean population. After performing a secondary data analysis of population-based nationally representative surveys (CASEN 2011-2017), access and use patterns (insurance, complementary insurance, non-consultation, and non-treatment coverage) were described and compared among settled immigrants, recent emerging immigrants, others, and locals. Immigrants had a significantly higher uninsured population compared to locals. Specifically, in CASEN 2017, 19.27% of emerging (95% CI: 15.3-24.1%), 11.79% of settled (95% CI: 10.1-13.7%), and 2.25% of locals (95% CI: 2.1-2.4%) were uninsured. After 2013, settled and recent emerging migrants showed higher percentages of non-consultation. Collaborative and interculturally relevant strategies from human rights and equity perspectives are needed. Initiatives with a particular focus on recent immigrants can contribute to reducing the existing disparities in health care access and use with locals due to lack of insurance and treatment coverage.