Health Services Utilization of Foreigner Patients at Sunpasitthiprasong Hospital, Ubon Ratchathani

Abstract

          Globalization and policy of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) led to foreigners coming into the country easier and more convenient. Health service is an issue that has been affected in both advantage and disadvantage aspects. For the advantages, patients get more accessibility to care. However, they may use health services excessively. Sunpasitthiprasong Hospital is the tertiary hospital and has been affected by these issues. Therefore, it is necessary to study the health services utilization of foreign patients for health service planning and management in the future. The retrospective descriptive study was performed to collect statistical data in fiscal year of 2008–2013 and health service process was explored by interviewing the involved officers. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and content analysis. The result showed that health service utilization tends to rise continuously in both inpatients and outpatients. Foreigners who use services the most, both inpatient and outpatient, were Laotian. Causes of health utilization were laboring, low cervical cesarean section, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Likewise, the cost of providing services was likely to increase steadily as well. During the 5 years of study, service fees that were not paid also increasing continuously.