Impact of primary care benefits on healthcare utilisation and estimated out-of-pocket expenses in urban, rural and remote settings in the Philippines.

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to determine the effects of primary care interventions on healthcare utilisation and estimated out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses in selected urban, rural and remote settings in the Philippines.

Methodology: Context-specific measures relating to expanding healthcare provider networks, augmenting the health human workforce and subsidising transportation costs were implemented to strengthen primary care systems. In this study, two key outcomes were monitored: (1) monthly healthcare utilisation measured by the total number of outpatient consultations per site and (2) change in OOP expenses from baseline to endline within a 1 year study period.

Results: All sites had a positive trend in monthly outpatient consultations in healthcare utilisation over 1 year. The remote site had the steepest increase in outpatient consultations, with a 401% increase compared with the baseline during the peak of consultations at month 7. The urban site had a 62% increase in outpatient consultations from baseline to month 6, while the rural site had a 251% increase from baseline to month 11, which corresponded to the peak month in terms of the number of outpatient consultations. The rural site had the largest decrease in estimated OOP expenses (50.3% reduction, 95% CI -88 to -13), followed by the remote site (33.2% reduction, 95% CI -67,+1) and the urban site (16.0% reduction, 95% CI -65,+33).

Conclusion: The rural site showed a significant reduction in estimated OOP expenses and an increase in healthcare utilisation. The remote site had the steepest increase in utilisation, but the reduction in estimated OOP expenses was not statistically significant. The urban site experienced the lowest increase in utilisation, and the smallest reduction in estimated OOP expenses, which was also not statistically significant. Implementing primary care benefits will necessitate contextualised approaches to avoid the inadvertent aggravation of inequities in healthcare.