Table 2 Definitions and further explanations of the medical services and pharmaceutical outcomes
Outcome variable | Interpretation of variable and scores |
|---|---|
Medical Services | |
Total costs of medical services | Total cost of medical services for 2005 calendar year (includes Medical Benefit Scheme (MBS) gap payment) ($AU) |
Number of MBS claims | Total number of claims to MBS for medical services for 2005 calendar year (additional bulk billing payments for general medical services were excluded from claims data to prevent double counting) |
MBS gap payment by the women | Total amount paid by women for medical services for 2005 calendar year (AU$). Due to skewness this variable is dichotomised into whether a gap was paid (yes, no). |
Number of General Practitioner (GP) visits | Total number of un-referred visits to GPs for 2005 calendar year |
Pharmaceuticals | |
Total costs of pharmaceuticals (PBS/RPBS) | Total cost of pharmaceuticals for 2005 calendar year (includes women’s contribution) ($AU) |
Number of PBS(RPBS) claims | Total number of scripts dispensed (including each repeat dispensed on one script) in 2005 calendar year |
Number of PBS(RPBS) scripts presented | Total number of scripts presented (irrespective of how many repeats per script) in 2005 calendar year |
Women’s contribution to cost of pharmaceuticals | Total amount paid by women in 2005 calendar year ($AU). |