A Comparison of Dependent Primary Care Utilization Rates Based on Deployments
Abstract
Due to the current Global War on Terror (GWOT), many Army posts are experiencing frequent deployments of Soldiers. During a deployment with many Soldiers deployed from a post, it is tempting to think that there will be less demand for medical care and the post will need fewer resources to provide for the dependents of the deployed Soldiers. No statistical study has been done to evaluate the health care utilization rate of dependents in the current war on terror. The purpose of this Graduate Management Project (GMP) is to determine if there is a difference between the quantity of primary care used by dependents of deployed Soldiers and dependents of non-deployed Soldiers. Four two month periods were analyzed in 2006 and 2007 at three Army posts: Ft. Bragg, Ft. Hood and Ft. Lewis. This study compares the mean number of simple Relative Value Units (RVUs) used by those who accessed primary care in the direct care system and purchased care sectors of the Military Healthcare System. Statistically significant differences were found between the RVU utilization means of only two of the posts: Ft. Bragg and Ft. Lewis. Because there were only statistically significant differences in two of the three posts, the results of the RVU means tests did not support a generalized conclusion that there was an increased RVU utilization by the dependents of deployed Soldiers compared to the dependents of non-deployed Soldiers. Dependents of the deployed Soldier groups, however, were consistently almost twice as likely to access primary care compared to dependents of the non-deployed Soldier groups.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 09, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA516837
Entities
People
- Martin D. Doperak
Organizations
- Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense