The Impact of Healthcare Privatization on Access to Surgical Care: Cholecystectomy as a Model.

Background: Privatization is widely perceived as a tool to improve healthcare access; however, its impact on the access of surgical care has not been quantified. We used cholecystectomy as a model to assess the variation in access between coexisting public (PB) and private providers (PVs).

Methods: We performed cross-sectional analysis of patients who underwent cholecystectomy at two major PB and PV groups serving Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.