Institute of Health and Society and Centre for Oral Health Research, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2012 Mar 7;12:53. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-12-53.
Delivering appropriate and affordable healthcare is a concern across the globe. As countries grapple with the issue of delivering healthcare with finite resources and populations continue to age, more health-related care services or treatments may become an optional 'extra' to be purchased privately. It is timely to consider how, and to what extent, the individual can act as both a 'patient' and a 'consumer'. In the UK the majority of healthcare treatments are free at the point of delivery. However, increasingly some healthcare treatments are being made available via the private healthcare market. Drawing from insights from healthcare policy and social sciences, this paper uses the exemplar of private dental implant treatment provision in the UK to examine what factors people considered when deciding whether or not to pay for a costly healthcare treatment for a non-fatal condition.
Qualitative interviews with people (n = 27) who considered paying for dental implants treatments in the UK. Data collection and analysis processes followed the principles of the constant comparative methods, and thematic analysis was facilitated through the use of NVivo qualitative data software.
Decisions to pay for private healthcare treatments are not simply determined by price. Decisions are mediated by: the perceived 'status' of the healthcare treatment as either functional or aesthetic; how the individual determines and values their 'need' for the treatment; and, the impact the expenditure may have on themselves and others. Choosing a private healthcare provider is sometimes determined simply by personal rapport or extant clinical relationship, or based on the recommendation of others.
As private healthcare markets expand to provide more 'non-essential' services, patients need to develop new skills and to be supported in their new role as consumers.
在全球范围内，提供适当且负担得起的医疗保健是一个关注点。随着各国在有限资源的情况下努力提供医疗保健，并且人口持续老龄化，更多与健康相关的护理服务或治疗可能成为需要私人购买的可选“额外”服务。现在是时候考虑个人如何以及在多大程度上可以同时充当“患者”和“消费者”。在英国，大多数医疗保健治疗都是免费提供的。然而，越来越多的医疗保健治疗正在通过私人医疗保健市场提供。本文借鉴医疗保健政策和社会科学的观点，以英国私人牙科植入物治疗提供为例，研究人们在决定是否为非致命疾病支付昂贵的医疗保健费用时考虑的因素。
对考虑在英国支付牙科植入物治疗费用的 27 人进行了定性访谈。数据收集和分析过程遵循恒定性比较方法的原则，通过使用 NVivo 定性数据分析软件促进了主题分析。
选择私人医疗保健治疗的决定不仅仅取决于价格。决定受到以下因素的影响：医疗保健治疗被认为是功能性的还是美学性的“地位”；个人如何确定和重视自己对治疗的“需求”；以及支出对自己和他人的影响。选择私人医疗保健提供者有时仅仅取决于个人关系或现有的临床关系，或者基于他人的推荐。
随着私人医疗保健市场的扩大，以提供更多“非必要”服务，患者需要发展新技能，并在其作为消费者的新角色中得到支持。
