Trajectories of primary health care utilization: a 10-year follow-up after the Swedish Patient Choice Reform of primary health care

BACKGROUND: In January 2010, the choice reform was instituted in Swedish primary health care establishing free entry for private primary health care providers and enabling patients to choose freely among primary health care centers. The motivation behind the reform was to improve access to primary care and responsiveness to patient expectations. Reform effects on health care utilization have previously been investigated by using subgroup analyses assuming a pattern of homogeneous subgroups of the population. By using a different methodological approach, the aim of this study was to, from an equity perspective, investigate long term trends of primary health care utilization following the choice reform. METHOD: A closed cohort was created based on register data from Region Skåne, the third most populated region in Sweden, describing individuals’ health care utilization between 2007–2017. Using a novel approach, utilization data, measured as primary health care visits, was matched with socioeconomic and geographic determinants, and analyzed using logistic regression models. RESULTS: A total of 659,298 individuals were included in the cohort. Sex differences in utilization were recorded to decrease in the older age group and to increase in the younger age group. Multivariable logistic regression showed increasing utilization in older men to be associated with higher socioeconomic position, while in women it was associated with lower socioeconomic position. Furthermore, groups of becoming high utilizers were all associated with lower socioeconomic position and with residence in urban areas. CONCLUSION: The impact of demographic, socioeconomic and geographic determinants on primary health care utilization varies in magnitude and direction between groups of the population. As a result, the increase in utilization as observed in the general population following the choice reform is unevenly distributed between different population groups. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-023-10326-9.