Leonard Kenneth L
Agricultural Economics, 2200 Symons Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. E-mail:
Health Policy Plan. 2014 Jan;29(1):85-95. doi: 10.1093/heapol/czs137. Epub 2013 Jan 9.
We introduce the 'active patient' model, which we claim is a better way to describe health-seeking behaviour in low-income countries. Active patients do not automatically seek health care at the closest or lowest cost provider, but rather seek high-quality care (even at higher cost) when they estimate that such care will significantly improves outcomes. We show how the active patient can improve his or her health even when access to adequate quality care is insufficient and that the empirical literature supports this model, particularly in Africa. Finally, we demonstrate the importance, in analysing health care policy, of recognizing patients' efforts to improve health outcomes by seeking quality care.
我们引入了“积极患者”模式，我们认为这是一种更好地描述低收入国家寻求医疗行为的方式。积极患者不会自动选择距离最近或成本最低的医疗机构就医，而是在他们估计这种医疗能显著改善治疗效果时，会寻求高质量的医疗服务（即使成本更高）。我们展示了即使在获得足够质量的医疗服务不足的情况下，积极患者如何能够改善自身健康状况，并且实证文献支持这一模式，尤其是在非洲。最后，我们证明了在分析医疗政策时，认识到患者通过寻求高质量医疗服务来改善健康结果的努力的重要性。
