The Impact of Hospital Accessibility on Interregional Patient Mobility in Italy

Abstract

Patient mobility represents a proxy measure to assess the quality and availability of hospital services, especially in decentralized health systems. Different studies have been focused on the interregional mobility in Italy to capture factors influencing this phenomenon. Among them, hospital capacity is generally captured through the number of beds per population. However, this indicator does not consider the distance to hospitals and the accessibility of extra-regional beds, in particular for patients living at the regional borders. The aim of this paper is to analyse the effect of extra-regional spatial accessibility component on patient mobility among the Italian regions. This can help to capture the level of equity in the provision of services across the country providing a snapshot of the distribution of beds over the territory. Moreover, this study contributes to gain a deeper understanding of the allocation of health resources providing input for policy makers on the basis of the principles of service accessibility.