Access to primary care in Hong Kong, Greater London and New York City.

We investigate avoidable hospital conditions (AHC) in three world cities as a way to assess access to primary care. Residents of Hong Kong are healthier than their counterparts in Greater London or New York City. In contrast to their counterparts in New York City, residents of both Greater London and Hong Kong face no financial barriers to an extensive public hospital system. We compare residence-based hospital discharge rates for AHC, by age cohorts, in these cities and find that New York City has higher rates than Hong Kong and Greater London. Hong Kong has the lowest hospital discharge rates for AHC among the population 15-64, but its rates are nearly as high as those in New York City among the population 65 and over. Our findings suggest that in contrast to Greater London, older residents in Hong Kong and New York face significant barriers in accessing primary care. In all three cities, people living in lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods are more likely to be hospitalized for an AHC, but neighborhood inequalities are greater in Hong Kong and New York than in Greater London.