Urban and Rural Disparities in Hospital Utilization among Indonesian Adults

Abstract

Background:

Equal access to healthcare facilities, patient’s satisfaction, and respect for the desire of the patient were recognized as the basic principles of each of the health care system. Each person must be given the opportunity to access health services in accordance with the requirements of their health. We aimed to prove the existence of disparities hospital utilization based on the category of urban-rural areas.

Methods:

The research used the 2013 Indonesian Basic Health Survey (RKD) as analysis material, that was designed a cross-sectional survey. With the multi-stage cluster random sampling method, 722,329 respondents were obtained. Data were analyzed using Multinomial Logistic Regression tests.

Results:

The results showed adults living in urban were likely to use hospital outpatient facilities 1.246 times higher than adults living in rural areas (OR 1.246; 95% CI 1.026 – 1.030). The likelihood of utilizing at the same time outpatient and inpatient facilities at 1.134 times higher in adults living in urban than those in rural areas (OR 1.134; 95% CI 1.025 – 1.255). While for the category of hospital inpatient utilization, there was no significant difference.

Conclusion:

There was a disparity in hospital utilization between urban-rural areas. Urban show better utilization than rural areas in outpatient and at the same time the use of inpatient care.