Utilization of health care providers by individuals with chronic spinal cord injury.

STUDY DESIGN: Questionnaire survey conducted in 2017 as part of the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort Study (SwiSCI).

OBJECTIVES: To elucidate the use of outpatient health care providers by individuals with chronic spinal cord injury in a situation of free choice and ample supply.

SETTING: Community, nationwide.

METHODS: The frequency of visits was compared to that of a survey conducted five years earlier. Using regression tree analysis, the characteristics of individuals with extensive use of health care providers' services were investigated. Substitution effects, where health care users replace one provider type by another, were quantified using likelihood ratios for positive outcomes.

RESULTS: The questionnaire was returned by 1,294 persons (response rate 33%). Participants reported visits to 14 different health care providers within the previous 12 months. Most often visited was the general practitioner (GP) by 82%. Older individuals used fewer health care providers than younger participants. Individuals with spasticity and females visited a broader variety of health care providers than the average user. The participants used fewer providers than they did five years ago. Health care users were not found to be substituting one provider type with another.

CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with spinal cord injury in Switzerland use a wide array of medical service providers. All providers were used complementary to each other without redundancies between providers. The use of providers is driven by health-related factors and gender. Old age was not as much a driver for high utilization as described in other settings.