چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background:Usual source of care (USC) is one of the hallmarks of primary care. We aimed to examine the status of
having a USC and its patient-related sociodemographic factors among Korean adults.
Methods:Data were obtained from the 2012 Korea Health Panel survey. Panel participants were selected for the
study who were aged 18 years or older and who replied to questionnaire items on having a USC (n= 11,935).
Results:Of the participants, 21.5% had a usual place and 13.9% had a usual physician. Reasons for not having a
USC were seldom being ill (66.1%), the preference to visit multiple medical institutions (27.9%), and others. The
private community clinic was the most common type of usual place (57.0%). In patient-reported attributes of care
provided by a usual physician, the percentages of positive responses for comprehensiveness and coordination were
67.2% and 34.5%, respectively. By institution type, primary care clinics showed the lowest percentage (32.8%) of
positive responses for coordination. Adjusted odds ratios of having a usual physician were 3.77 (95% confidence
interval, CI: 3.75–3.79) for those aged 65 years or older (vs. aged 18–34 years), 1.31 (CI: 1.30–1.31) for females (vs.
males), 0.72 (CI: 0.72–0.73) for unmarried people (vs. married), 1.16 (CI: 1.16–1.16) for college graduates or higher (vs.
elementary school graduate or less), 0.64 for the fifth quintile (vs. the first quintile) by household income, 1.53 (CI: 1.
52–1.54) for Medical Aid (vs. employee health insurance) for type of health insurance, and 4.09 (CI: 4.08–4.10) for
presence (vs. absence) of a chronic diseases.
Conclusions:The proportion of Korean adults who have a USC is extremely low, the most influential factor
of having a USC is having a chronic disease or not, and Korean patients experience much poorer health care
coordination than do patients in other industrialized countries. The findings of this study will give insight to
researchers and policy makers regarding the potential facilitators of and barriers to promoting having a USC
in the general Korean public.