ArticlePloS one2022
Measuring voluntary responses in healthcare utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Taiwan.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Epidemiological trends and healthcare burden of Kawasaki disease in children under 5 years in Taiwan.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Exploring pandemic preparedness through public perception and its impact on health service quality, attitudes, and healthcare image.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mortality Rates From Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases in Taiwan: An Interventional Time Series Study.International journal of public health · 2025Article
- Impact of post-COVID-19 changes in outpatient chronic patients' healthcare-seeking behaviors on medical utilization and health outcomes.Health economics review · 2024Article
- Do behavioral drivers matter for healthcare decision-making during crises? A study of low-income women in El Salvador during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2024Article
- How Taiwan has responded to COVID-19 and how COVID-19 has affected Taiwan, 2020-2022.Journal of microbiology, immunology, and infection = Wei mian yu gan ran za zhi · 2023Review
- Educational Videos to Reduce Parental Rejection of Pediatric Cardiac Catheterization during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Changes in mobility amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Sapporo City, Japan: An investigation through the relationship between spatiotemporal population density and urban facilities.Transportation research interdisciplinary perspectives · 2023Article
- Suicide trends varied by age-subgroups during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in Taiwan.Journal of the Formosan Medical Association = Taiwan yi zhi · 2022Article
- Impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare use in osteoarthritis: A population register-based study in Sweden.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2022Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
Healthcare has been one of the most affected sectors during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The utilization of related services for non-COVID-19 diseases fell dramatically following the point at which the virus broke out; however, little is known about whether this observed decline in healthcare use was due to voluntary behaviors or enforced measures. This paper quantifies the spontaneous change in healthcare utilization during the pandemic. We utilize a county-by-week-level dataset from Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) record, covering the entire Taiwanese population, and a difference-in-differences design. Our results indicate that even if there were no human mobility restrictions or supply-side constraints, people voluntarily reduced their demand for healthcare, due to fears of contagion, or COVID-related precautionary behaviors. We find that the number of outpatient visits (inpatient admissions) decreased by 19% (10%) during the pandemic period (February to May 2020). Furthermore, the demand response of healthcare for Influenza-like illness (ILI) was much greater and more persistent than for non-ILI, thereby suggesting that the substantial decline in accessing healthcare was induced by positive public health externality of prevention measures for COVID-19. Finally, we find that the demand for healthcare services did not get back to the pre-pandemic baseline, even when there were no local coronavirus cases for 253 consecutive days (mid-April to December 2020) in Taiwan.
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