Why do general practitioners abandon the local hospital? An analysis of referral decisions related to elective treatment.

AIM: The right to choose a hospital was granted to Norwegian elective patients through the Patients' Rights Act of 2001. The Act assumes that hospital choice will be executed by patients and general practitioners (GPs) at the point of referral. This study examined the probability of referring patients away from the nearest hospitals for three common elective diagnoses: hip replacement, knee surgery, and back pain treatment.
METHODS: Data describing referral rates and individual characteristics with the GP were collected by a self-administered questionnaire to Norwegian GPs in 2004 and 2006. These were combined with data on interactions between the GP and the local hospital from a database describing the hospital's internal organisation, variables describing needs (demand) at local government level from Statistics Norway, variables describing waiting times from the Norwegian Patient Register, and variables describing travelling distances to the nearest hospital and hospital characteristics. The probability of referring patients away from the nearest hospital was analysed using a cross-section regression model with fixed effects for region, years, and hospital type.
RESULTS: GPs were on average more reluctant to send patients away for hip surgery and back pain than they were for knee surgery. Formal coordinative mechanisms between the hospitals and the GPs - meeting places and arenas for information exchange - significantly reduced the likelihood of referring patients away from the local hospital. Long waiting times and long distances to the local hospital also increased the probability of abandoning the local hospital.
CONCLUSION: Hospital managers could attract elective patients by developing arenas for communication and collaboration with local GPs.