Highly frequent utilization of outpatient services in a national health insurance system - analysis of associated factors and underlying co-morbidity.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to identify associated factors of highly frequent use of outpatient services and explore how they were impacted to provide policy references for government and medical institutes in their efforts to seek provision of reasonable medical services, continuous care and integrated outpatient services. METHODS: The Taiwanese national health insurance database was used and 661,125 patients were identified in 2009. The patients with ≥100 internal medicine outpatient (IMO) visits were defined as the highly frequent group and they were matched at a ratio of 1:4 with patients of 1-99 IMO visits based on demographic characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Among 1 million patients in the outpatient department, 0.05% had at least 100 visits. These patients with highly frequent IMO visits had significantly higher rates of emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalization, psychiatric disorders and possession of a catastrophic illness card as well as a significantly lower level of continuity of care index (COCI). Multivariate analysis showed that ED visits (adjusted OR [AOR] = 1.63), psychiatric disorders (AOR = 7.13), low COCI (AOR = 1.69), and several comorbidities including peripheral vascular diseases (AOR = 4.33), dementia (AOR = 0.04), chronic pulmonary disease (AOR = 3.02), peptic ulcer diseases (AOR = 3.70), diabetes mellitus (AOR = 3.45) and renal disease (AOR = 2.43) were significant associated factors. CONCLUSIONS: To rationalize use and distribution of medical resources, we suggest proper regular care and health education to those with mental disabilities and multiple chronic conditions, which may not only improve the situation of highly frequent hospital visits but also effectively control incidence of acute conditions and reduce their ED visits. In addition, improving the continuity of care is vital, and the best way to do this is to promote family medicine as the primary form of healthcare.

Continuity of care and multiple chronic conditions impact frequent use of outpatient services.

This study investigated the association between care continuity and chronic conditions in relation to highly frequent use of outpatient service in order to find constructive suggestions to bring efficient, high-quality care for patients with multiple chronic conditions. The National Health Insurance database was used and 333,294 patients were identified from 2007 to 2009. The continuity of care index indicates the dispersion of a patient's ambulatory visits among providers. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios with 95 percent confidence intervals. Continuity of care index was significantly associated with age, sex, urbanization level, socioeconomic status, emergency department visits, hospitalization, psychological disorders, chronic diseases, and catastrophic illness card; those with low continuity of care index were likely to use outpatient care highly frequently. Improving continuity of care is fundamental, and the best way is to advance the practice of family medicine for primary care.