IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i4p2051-d747682.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Travel Time for Dental Care Services Based on Patient Preference in South Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Han-A Cho

    (Department of Dental Hygiene, Shinhan University, 95, Hoam-ro, Uijeongbu-si 11644, Korea)

  • Bo-Ra Kim

    (Department of Dental Hygiene, Namseoul University, 91, Cheonan-si 31020, Korea)

  • Hosung Shin

    (Department of Social and Humanity in Dentistry, Wonkwang University School of Dentistry, 460, Iksan-daero, Iksan-si 54538, Korea)

Abstract

This study analyzed patient preferences using travel time from residence to dental institution when selecting dental care services. We used data from the Korean Health Panel from 2008 to 2017 and analyzed each dental service episode. Since the distribution of travel time was skewed to the left, median travel time was analyzed. The association of travel time with services was analyzed via the population-averaged generalized estimating equation (GEE) with the Poisson family. The median of the average travel time per episode was longer for non-National Health Insurance (NHI)-covered services and shorter for NHI-covered services. The first quintile of low-income subjects traveled the longest for all services and utilized dental care the most. In the GEE analysis, travel time was approximately three times longer for implant treatment and gold inlay/resin fillings and >2 times longer for orthodontic care than for NHI-covered services. Patients residing in rural counties traveled for longer than residents of large cities. Income was statistically significant; however, the coefficient was close to zero. Travel time was related to the type of service and reflected patient preference. This was more prominent for expensive non-NHI-covered services than for NHI-covered services. The findings suggest patients’ subjective preferences for dental clinic selection are expressed as rational deliberation considering each individual’s situation.

Suggested Citation

  • Han-A Cho & Bo-Ra Kim & Hosung Shin, 2022. "Travel Time for Dental Care Services Based on Patient Preference in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:4:p:2051-:d:747682
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2051/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2051/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pilny, Adam & Mennicken, Roman, 2014. "Does Hospital Reputation Influence the Choice of Hospital?," Ruhr Economic Papers 516, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    2. Marco Varkevisser & Stéphanie Geest & Frederik Schut, 2010. "Assessing hospital competition when prices don’t matter to patients: the use of time-elasticities," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 43-60, March.
    3. Michael Förster & Marco Mira d'Ercole, 2005. "Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries in the Second Half of the 1990s," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 22, OECD Publishing.
    4. Jin-Sun Choi & Se-Hwan Jung, 2020. "The Impact of Expanded National Health Insurance Coverage of Dentures and Dental Implants on Dental Care Utilization among Older Adults in South Korea: A Study Based on the Korean Health Panel Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-11, September.
    5. Hosung Shin & Eunsuk Ahn, 2018. "Does the regional deprivation impact the spatial accessibility to dental care services?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-11, September.
    6. Kenneth L. Leonard & Gilbert R. Mliga & Damen Haile Mariam, 2002. "Bypassing Health Centres in Tanzania: Revealed Preferences for Quality," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 11(4), pages 441-471, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anne-Fleur Roos & Eddy van Doorslaer & Owen O'Donnell & Erik Schut & Marco Varkevisser, 2018. "Does price competition damage healthcare quality?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 18-040/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Oshio, Takashi & 小塩, 隆士 & オシオ, タカシ & Kobayashi, Miki & 小林, 美樹 & コバヤシ, ミキ, 2009. "Regional income inequality and happiness: Evidence from Japan," PIE/CIS Discussion Paper 460, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    3. Honora Smith & Christine Currie & Pornpimol Chaiwuttisak & Andreas Kyprianou, 2018. "Patient choice modelling: how do patients choose their hospitals?," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 259-268, June.
    4. Daniel Avdic & Tugba Bueyuekdurmus & Giuseppe Moscelli & Adam Pilny & Ieva Sriubaite, 2018. "Subjective and objective quality reporting and choice of hospital: Evidence from maternal care services in Germany," CINCH Working Paper Series 1803, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health.
    5. Chatzouz, Moustafa, 2014. "Government Debt and Wealth Inequality: Theory and Insights from Altruism," MPRA Paper 77007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. ., 2010. "Income Distribution and Social Welfare Policy: Issues and Strategy," Chapters, in: The Korean Economy in Transition, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:48:y:2010:i::p:529-556 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Kruk, Margaret E. & Rockers, Peter C. & Mbaruku, Godfrey & Paczkowski, Magdalena M. & Galea, Sandro, 2010. "Community and health system factors associated with facility delivery in rural Tanzania: A multilevel analysis," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(2-3), pages 209-216, October.
    9. Grech, Aaron George, 2010. "Assessing the sustainability of pension reforms in Europe," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 43865, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Mennicken, Roman & Kolodziej, Ingo W.K. & Augurzky, Boris & Kreienberg, Rolf, 2014. "Concentration of gynaecology and obstetrics in Germany: Is comprehensive access at stake?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(3), pages 396-406.
    11. Chakraborty, Lekha S., 2006. "Fiscal decentralisation and gender responsive budgeting in Mexico: Some observations," Working Papers 06/40, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    12. Georges Menahem, 2007. "The decommodified security ratio: A tool for assessing European social protection systems," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 60(4), pages 69-103, October.
    13. Abate, Gashaw T. & Dereje, Mekdim & Hirvonen, Kalle & Minten, Bart, 2020. "Geography of public service delivery in rural Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    14. Salm, Martin & Wübker, Ansgar, 2018. "Do higher hospital reimbursement prices improve quality of care?," Ruhr Economic Papers 779, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Clauss, Markus & Schnabel, Reinhold, 2008. "Distributional and behavioural effects of the German labour market reform," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 41(4), pages 431-446.
    16. Ikuo Ishibashi & Noriaki Matsushima, 2012. "Should Public Sectors Be Complements of Private Sectors?," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 168(4), pages 712-730, December.
    17. Puck Beukers & Ron Kemp & Marco Varkevisser, 2014. "Patient hospital choice for hip replacement: empirical evidence from the Netherlands," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(9), pages 927-936, December.
    18. Koen Caminada & Chen Wang, 2011. "Disentangling Income Inequality and the Redistributive Effect of Social Transfers and Taxes in 36 LIS Countries," LIS Working papers 567, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    19. Peter Dohmen & Martin Ineveld & Aniek Markus & Liana Hagen & Joris Klundert, 2023. "Does competition improve hospital performance: a DEA based evaluation from the Netherlands," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 24(6), pages 999-1017, August.
    20. Mensen, Anne, 2022. "Concentration of hospital capacities and patients' access to care," Ruhr Economic Papers 952, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    21. Anja Sautmann & Samuel Brown & Mark Dean, 2016. "Subsidies, Information, and the Timing of Childrenís Health Care in Mali," Working Papers 2016-2, Brown University, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:4:p:2051-:d:747682. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.