Outcomes
We adopted three outcome variables for healthcare utilization that are widely used in China’s context and in accordance with the existing literature, including outpatient visit, inpatient admission, outpatient visit in PHC facilities, and hospital admission within counties.
First, outpatient visit was defined as seeing a doctor in the last two weeks, which was based on the question in the survey “Have you seen a doctor in a clinic or a hospital outpatient department due to illness in the past two weeks before the survey?”.
Second, inpatient admission was defined as receiving inpatient care in the past year, which was based on the question “Have you been hospitalized due to illness, physical examination, delivery, and other reasons in the past year before the survey?”.
Third, outpatient visit in PHC facilities was based on the question “Where was your first visit in the past two weeks before the survey?”
Lastly, hospital admission inside counties was based on the question “Where were you admitted to?”, and those who answered “my county” were recognized.