Impact of Economic Accessibility on Realized Utilization of Home-Based Healthcare Services for the Older Adults in China

Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Feb 17;9(2):218. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9020218.

Abstract

Home-based healthcare service has gradually become the most important model to cope with aging in China. However, the contradiction between oversupply and insufficient demand of healthcare services is becoming increasingly serious. How to effectively improve the realized utilization of healthcare resources has become a key issue in the development of healthcare services. Based on the social background of "getting old before getting rich", this article explores the relationship between economic accessibility and realized utilization, and finds that the impact of economic accessibility on realized utilization is inverted U-shaped, not a linear positive effect. In addition, considering the moderating role of family support, it is found that family support can strengthen the inverted U-shaped effect of economic accessibility on realized utilization. Therefore, exerting the role of family and improving economic accessibility can effectively solve the dilemma of low utilization of healthcare services.

Keywords: economic accessibility; family support; inverted U-shaped effect; realized utilization.