Sociodemographic and health service organizational factors associated with the choice of the private versus public sector for specialty visits: Evidence from a national survey in Italy

Abstract

The attitude of the population to use private services for specialist visits is linked both to sociodemographic and health services organizational factors: the former are unmodifiable while the latter are susceptible to managerial and health policy actions. In a public-financed, universal coverage system, policy makers may act upon the organizational factors that make private health facilities more attractive in order to reduce private care use.