The Effect of Family Physician Integrated Care Program on Healthcare Utilization and Outcomes

Background
The Family Physician Integrated Care Program has been implemented for many years. The National Health Insurance Administration wants to establish the foundation plans to reach a Family Physician System by this program. However, in recent years, there have been few studies on the long-term effect of the program on healthcare utilization and outcomes.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the Family Physician Integrated Care Program on healthcare utilization and outcomes.
Methods
This study used the Nation Health Insurance data from 2004 to 2011. Patients were classified into two groups. Beneficiaries who did not join the program from 2004 to 2006 but joined the program from 2007 to 2011 were classified as an intervention group. Others who did not join the program from 2004 to 2011 were classified as a comparison group. We used the Difference in Difference method, Propensity Score method and multivariate regression models to examine the effect of the program on healthcare utilization and outcomes.
Results
There was an increase in adult preventive services utilization.
Discussion
This study shows that Family Physician Integrated Care Program can increase the prevention services utilization, meaning that family physicians may provide more preventive services to prevent their members from morbidity. However, the effect of the program other healthcare services utilization and outcomes is limited.