Patient choice and socioeconomic disparities in the quality of healthcare
Evidence from Swedish registry data
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4592589 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lina Maria Ellegård (0000-0003-1311-9927, Kristianstad University), Gustav Kjellsson (0000-0002-0843-1038, Ca' Foscari University of Venice), Roxanne Kovacs (0000-0002-4631-3227, University of Gothenburg), Yuejun Zhao (0000-0002-2980-6484, University of Edinburgh) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 383 |
| Pages | 118351 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Science & Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118351 |
| PMID | 40690882 |
| OpenAlex | W4412447490 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 30 |
This study explores socioeconomic disparities in how patients trade off quality against other features when choosing their primary care provider. We use a unique registry dataset linking the choices of individuals who recently moved to a new market, and therefore need to select a new provider, with detailed individual-level measures of socioeconomic status (SES) and provider-level measures of patient satisfaction, clinical quality and travel distance in a large Swedish region. We find significant disparities in patient choice based on SES, as high-SES individuals are consistently more likely to select higher quality providers. However, the results also suggest that most of the SES disparities in observed quality are linked to differences in the availability of high-quality providers within an acceptable travel distance. Our findings suggest that patient choice can widen, rather than reduce, disparities in population health by SES - if spatial inequalities in access to high-quality care are not addressed beforehand
Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Family medicine · Health care · Population · Quality (philosophy · Socioeconomic status · Global Health Care Issues · Healthcare Policy and Management · Medicine · Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |