Primary Care Quality among Different Health Care Structures in Tibet, China

OBJECTIVE To compare the primary care quality among different health care structures in Tibet, China. METHODS A self-administered questionnaire survey including Primary Care Assessment Tool-Tibetan version was used to obtain data from a total of 1386 patients aged over 18 years in the sampling sites in two prefectures in Tibet. Multivariate analysis was performed to assess the association between health care structures and primary care quality while controlling for sociodemographic and health care characteristics. RESULTS The services provided by township health centers were more often used by a poor, less educated, and healthy population. Compared with prefecture (77.42) and county hospitals (82.01), township health centers achieved highest total score of primary care quality (86.64). Factors that were positively and significantly associated with higher total assessment scores included not receiving inpatient service in the past year, less frequent health care visits, good self-rated health status, lower education level, and marital status. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that township health centers patients reported better primary care quality than patients visiting prefecture and county hospitals. Government health reforms should pay more attention to THC capacity building in Tibet, especially in the area of human resource development.