More doctors, better health? A generalised synthetic control approach to estimating impacts of increasing doctors under Brazil's Mais Medicos programme
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4597559 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rebecca L Thomas (0000-0003-0124-0391, University of Oxford), Christopher Millett (0000-0002-0793-9884, Imperial College London), Reinaldo Da Silva Soares (0000-0003-0716-4350, Universidade Federal da Paraíba), Ricardo De Sousa Soares, Thomas Hone (0000-0003-0703-6973, Imperial College London) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 358 |
| Pages | 117222 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| 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.2024.117222 |
| PMID | 39181082 |
| OpenAlex | W4401668059 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 40 |
Worldwide, there are an insufficient number of primary care physicians to provide accessible, high-quality primary care services. Better knowledge on the health impacts of policies aimed at improving access to primary care physicians is important for informing future policies. Using a generalised synthetic control estimator (GSC), we estimate the effect of the increase in primary care physicians from the Programa Mais Médicos in Brazil. The GSC allows us to estimates a continuous treatment effects which are heterogenous by region. We exploit the variation in physicians allocated to each Brazilian microregion to identify the impact of an increasing Mais Médicos primary care physicians. We explore hospitalisations and mortality rates (both total and from ambulatory care sensitive conditions) as outcomes. Our analysis differs from previous work by estimating the impact of the increase in physician numbers, as opposed to the overall impact of programme participation. We examine the impact on hospitalisations and mortality rates and employ a panel dataset with monthly observations of all Brazilian microregion over the period 2008-2017. We find limited effects of an increase in primary care physicians impacting health outcomes - with no significant impact of the Programa Mais Médicos on hospitalisations or mortality rates. Potential explanations include substitution of other health professionals, impacts materialising over the longer-term, and poor within-region allocation of Mais Médicos physicians
Control (management · Economics · Environmental health · Family medicine · Management · Public health · Global Health Care Issues · Healthcare Policy and Management · Medicine · Nursing · Primary Care and Health Outcomes
Policy relevant determinants of health
The Brazilian health system
Human resources for health
Impact of primary health care on mortality from heart and cerebrovascular diseases in Brazil
Major Expansion Of Primary Care In Brazil Linked To Decline In Unnecessary Hospitalization
Using Synthetic Controls
Association between expansion of primary healthcare and racial inequalities in mortality amenable to primary care in Brazil
Association of Primary Care Physician Supply With Population Mortality in the United States, 2005-2015
Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects
Contribution of Primary Care to Health Systems and Health
Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects
The missing link – the role of primary care in global health
Synthetic Control Estimation Beyond Comparative Case Studies
Difference-in-Differences Estimators of Intertemporal Treatment Effects
Mais Médicos (More Doctors) Program – a view from England
O Programa Mais Médicos
Assessing the impact of more doctors’ program on healthcare indicators in Brazil
A perspectiva dos supervisores sobre a integralidade nas práticas dos médicos cubanos do Programa Mais Médicos
Médicos pelo Brasil
The impact of primary health care and specialist physician supply on amenable mortality in Mexico (2000-2015)
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |