Characteristics of High-Resource Health System Users in Rural and Remote Regions: A Scoping Review

Michele LeBlanc, Tomoko McGaughey and Paul A. Peters ()
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Michele LeBlanc: School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
Tomoko McGaughey: Department of Health Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
Paul A. Peters: Department of Health Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: A small proportion of health care users are recognized to use a significantly higher proportion of health system resources, largely due to systemic, inequitable access and disproportionate health burdens. These high-resource health system users are routinely characterized as older, with multiple comorbidities, and reduced access to adequate health care. Geographic trends also emerge, with more rural and isolated regions demonstrating higher rates of high-resource use than others. Despite known geographical discrepancies in health care access and outcomes, health policy and research initiatives remain focused on urban population centers. To alleviate mounting health system pressure from high-resource users, their characteristics must be better understood within the context in which i arises. To examine this, a scoping review was conducted to provide an overview of characteristics of high-resource users in rural and remote communities in Canada and Australia. In total, 21 papers were included in the review. Using qualitative thematic coding, primary findings characterized rural high-resource users as those of an older age; with increased comorbid conditions and condition severity; lower socioeconomic status; and elevated risk behaviors.

Keywords: health care; rural health; healthcare inequalities; public health systems research; health care costs; health services research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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