ArticleBMC health services research2024
Can family doctor system improve health service utilization for patients with hypertension and diabetes in China? A difference-in-differences study.
Article in BMC health services research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Implementation strategies for evidence-based management of type 2 diabetes at primary healthcare facilities in low- and middle-income countries and related barriers and facilitators: a scoping review.Implementation science communications · 2026Pooled it
- Insufficient evidence on the effectiveness of family physician program in Iran: a systematic review of existing literature.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of the Family Doctor Contracting System on unmet healthcare needs in Shandong Province, China.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Impact of the compact county medical service community policy on healthcare resource allocation and healthcare service utilization in village clinics: a difference-in-differences analysis in rural Sichuan, China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Strengthening primary care gatekeeping for healthy aging in China: family doctor contract service and multidimensional health outcomes among older adults.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Self-management of patients with type 2 diabetes in Chaoyang District, Beijing, and challenges in utilizing family and community resources: a mixed-methods study.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Association between family doctor contract services and management status among patients with hypertension or diabetes in a multi-ethnic Province of China.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Research on the impact of family doctor contract services on the willingness of residents' first choice of medical institutions for treatment-empirical analysis based on PSM.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- The impact of long-term prescription policy on primary care utilisation and costs among hypertensive patients in China: a six-year longitudinal study.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Impact of family doctors on gradient utilization of health services among diabetic patients: evidence from a real-world study.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- How does construction of the healthcare data center affect the health of older adults?evidence from China.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Influencing factor analysis of family doctor contract service among older adults: evidence from China.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFamily doctors, serving as gatekeepers, are the core of primary health care to meet basic health needs, provide accessible care, and improve attainable health. The study objective was to evaluate the impact of the family doctor system on health service utilization among patients with hypertension and diabetes in China.
methodsDifference-in-Differences (DID) models are constructed to estimate the net effect of the family doctor system, based on the official health management records and medical insurance claim data of patients with hypertension and diabetes in an eastern city of China.
resultsThe family doctor system significantly increases follow-up visits (hypertension patients coef. = 0.13, diabetes patients coef. = 0.08, both p < 0.001) and outpatient visits (hypertension patients coef. = 0.08, diabetes patients coef. = 0.05, both p < 0.001) among the contracted compared to the non-contracted. The proportion of outpatient visits in community health centers among the contracted significantly rose (hypertension patients coef. = 0.02, diabetes patients coef. = 0.04, both p < 0.001) due to significantly more outpatient visits in community health centers and fewer in secondary and tertiary hospitals. It also significantly mitigates the increase in inpatient admissions among hypertension patients but not among diabetes patients.
conclusionsThe examined family doctor system strengthens primary care, both by increasing follow-up visits and outpatient visits and promoting a rationalized structure of outpatient utilization in China.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.