Nonurgent Patients' Preferences for Emergency Department Versus General Practitioner and Effects of Incentives: A Discrete Choice Experiment.

This study investigates potential of a new financial incentive policy, the GP-referral discount scheme introduced in Singapore, in reducing nonurgent emergency department (ED) visits, and compares it with alternative interventions. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was designed to elicit patients' preferences for ED and general practitioner (GP) under hypothetical nonurgent medical conditions. Through latent class multinomial logistic regression, choice models were estimated to quantify how patients' choices are influenced by GP-referral discount, other ED/GP attributes (waiting time, test facilities, and payment), patient demographics, and their perception of severity.