Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117390

Nadav Davidovitch, MD¹, Dani Filc, MD, PhD², Ran D. Balicer, MD³, Danny Vardi, MD⁴, and Shifra Shvarts, Pro⁴. (1) Health Systems Management, Faculty for Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University, P.O. Box 653, Beer Sheva, 84105, Israel, 972-50-465479, mikinadv@post.tau.ac.il, (2) Politics and Government, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ben Gurion University, P.O. Box 653, Beer Sheva, 84105, Israel, (3) Tel-Aviv DHO, Israeli Ministry of Health, 27 Hagilgal st., Ramat-Gan, 52392, Israel, (4) Ben Gurion University, Health Systems Management, Faculty for Health Sciences, Beer Sheva, 84105, Israel

Background: In recent years, the whole world has been faced with major demographic changes due to mass movement of immigrants. This phenomenon carries with it a considerable impact on the public health of both immigrants and veteran populations. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, more than 3 million immigrants have come to Israel, including more than a million newcomers in the 1990s, most from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. The objective of this study is to compare patterns of utilization of health services between recent immigrants and Israeli veteran population, ten years after the Israeli National Health Insurance Law in 1995. Methods: The study population includes 100,000 patients above the age of 21 insured by the Southern district of the General Sick Fund. Logistic and linear regression models were computed to compare patterns of utilization of health services between immigrants and veterans (ER, hospitalization, drug costs, laboratory and imaging tests). Results: In general immigrants' utilization of health services was significantly lower comparing to Israeli veterans in all parameters even after adjusting to various socio-demographic factors. Between five to ten years after immigration, several utilization patterns of health services approached that of Israeli veterans. The possible reasons for these phenomena will be discussed, including the social and cultural barriers for immigrants' utilization of health care services. Conclusions: Recent immigrants to Israel utilize less health services than Israeli veterans. Immigrants' special characteristics and needs must be taken into account in planning health services and intervention programs.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Describe the Patterns of use of health services among recent Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia.
• Recognize the importance of social and cultural barriers in utilization of health care services by recent immigrants.
• Discuss the planning of health care services for immigrants in light of the presentation.

Keywords: Immigrants, Health Care Utilization

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation