Malcolm L A, Higgins C S
N Z Med J. 1981 May 13;93(683):301-3.
This study was undertaken to determine whether the relationship between availability (population/GP) and utilisation (services/person) shown in previous work also applied to general practitioner prescribing rates and costs. Pharmaceutical pricing office records of payments to pharmacists were used as a data base. Calculated rates of prescribing and costs for 1978/79 showed a wide variation between health districts ranging from 9.0 prescription items and $40.18 per capita in Whangarei, to 5.8 items and $26.83 in Invercargill. These rates were highly correlated with both availability and utilisation, thus indicating that the wide inequality in distribution of general practitioners is associated with an equivalent maldistribution of pharmaceutical expenditure. In 1978/79 each general practitioner on average issued 16315 prescriptions at a cost of $72 934. These findings have important cost and policy implications with the projected surplus of medical manpower seeking entry to general practice.
本研究旨在确定先前研究中所显示的可及性（人口/全科医生）与利用率（服务/人）之间的关系是否也适用于全科医生的处方率和成本。药品定价办公室向药剂师支付款项的记录被用作数据库。1978/79年度的处方率和成本计算结果显示，各健康区之间存在很大差异，从旺阿雷的人均9.0张处方、40.18美元，到因弗卡吉尔的5.8张处方、26.83美元。这些比率与可及性和利用率都高度相关，这表明全科医生分布的广泛不平等与药品支出的同等分布不均有关。1978/79年度，每位全科医生平均开出16315张处方，费用为72934美元。随着预计有多余的医疗人力寻求进入全科医疗领域，这些发现具有重要的成本和政策意义。
