BOOKS OF RtfiDIfGS - PAHO/WHO

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lation); MDJ is the total number of FTPC physicians in service area NF- FOR
j; and P is the patient capacity of one FTPC physician in numbers PMARY CARE
of the ideal population. The physician requirement factor for each
district is the sum of the requirement factors for the service areas in
tlae district.
The need factor is the estimated average number of member of
the ideal population who are beyond the capacity of each FTPC physician
to serve but who would have to be served in order to satisfy that
portion of the ex~presed demand that is not currently being satisfied.
The need factor, XP/. is expressed as follows:
XP, = ',/MD,-P
The need factor for each district, XPd, is
XP, = (XMD, x P)/MD,
where XMD, i, the number of additional TPC physicians required
to atiify that portion of epressed demand that is not cumnrently being
met in district d and MD 1 is the total number of FTPC phyicians in
disrit d
Meru~ df Eecue of tbe Prmary Medical Came System
ElEctiv«ee indexes provide a mesure of the capability of the
primary a e povida e in ach servtce are to met the demand of the
popultion of that rca. To aras the performance of the primary
medial care divs sd>em of a state, a policymaker need satewide
mnaMures of effectiveane Several maurcs of performance that can
be deived fron the inkd t aure diumed below.
Iudtxa Raekd to Minimum LmbL of Serice or Availability.
Fomulon of
tto n that tbe g
tme mem of effecuiveai i¡ based on the a*ump.
o oí he poficy~ that some minimum level of
eitbe the ervi ~ de a va;iabity idex is obtainrL The per.
cetage of arvie u that have index values below a defined minimum
leved 1 one uh meaure. Alarnatively, a population.weighted
average of index levd below tbe minimum level ould be used.
Popuwlio.Seighek d ldex por tl Stc. This measure combine
the indexes lfr the ~rvc ar by multiplying either the primary
care ice ind or the avaiblty inde for a particular service
ares by the fraction of the Mate*' populaion in that arca and sum.
ming the produc of ll aras.
Pkhyucin R gquiremnt Factor for thc Stal. This measure is the
number of additonal FIPC phucians needr in the state to atíify
all of the exprsed demand
of the serve area
and is the aum of thd requirement factors
The Analy for Indiana
The procedure developed in thi reecarch is being used to evaluate
the primary health care system of Indiana. It was fint uced in F
1976 by the Board of Trusaes of the Indiana Medical Diustribution
Loan Fund to identify areas in need of primary care physicians.