Measuring the Urban Poorʼs Use of Physiciansʼ Services in Response to Illness Episodes

Utilization studies have generally used volume of visits over time to make inferences concerning differential response to sickness. The results of three household interview studies conducted in OEO health center target areas are reported. Rather than volume of visits as a dependent variable, these studies use differential response to activity limiting illness episodes. Poverty and usual source of medical care were found to be only weakly associated with physician visits, with strength of the associations dependent on relative seriousness of the episode-causing condition and presence of Medicare or Medicaid.