Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the outpatient utilization of Chinese medicine between people with intellectual disabilities and the general public, and the affecting factors.
Methods: This study used the national health insurance (NHI) outpatient claim data of insurers from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2011. The ambulatory care expenditures by visits data of Chinese medicine department (CM) were selected and analyzed. The Subject with intellectual disabilities was defined as anyone who had a primary, secondary or tertiary diagnosis of ICD-9-CM code 317-319 during at least three outpatient visits, otherwise was defined as the general public.
Results: The results showed that from 2008 to 2011, the prevalence of CM among ID were between 24.3%-25.1%, and that of the general public were 32.1%-33.6%.
After logistic regression analysis, the factors influencing the use of CM outpatient clinics in this study were gender, age, area insured, amount insured and copayment status.
Conclusion: This study found that the outpatient utilization of Chinese medicine of the intellectual disabilities is higher than the general public, the average annual utilization and expenses of the outpatient utilization of CM with the intellectual disabilities are higher than that of the general public. It shows that the Chinese medicine clinic has certainly influence on the choice and utilization of the medical treatment for the intellectual disabilities and its family members.
