Manser, Marilyn E., and Elizabeth A. Fineman. 1983. "The Impact of the NHSC on the Utilization of Physician Services and on Health Status in Rural Areas." Journal of Human Resources 18(4):521-538.

In this paper we present the results of an analysis of the impact of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) on the utilization of physician services and on health status in rural areas, using Health Interview Survey (HIS) data for 1978. Because county identifiers were available to us for the study, we were able to link the HIS data to aggregate county data and to control for characteristics of the market for physicians' services in the individual's area of residence, including whether or not the individual was nearby to an NHSC site. Although weak evidence of a favorable NHSC impact is found for children, on balance, there is no conclusive evidence in either direction for men or women. Differences in neither income level nor race are found to be strongly associated with differences in utilization or in the number of bed days.

The authors are, respectively, Senior Economist, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Re- search Associate, Mathematica Policy Research. Manser was a Senior Economist at MPR at the time this research was performed.
*  The research reported in this paper was carried out as a part of MPR's Evaluation of the National Health Service Corps pursuant to contract No. 240-79-0056 with the Health Services Administration. The authors are indebted to Barbara H. Kehrer, Daniel A. Calvin, John Drabek, and Elizabeth A. McGlynn for helpful comments on the research on which this paper is based. The conclusions drawn here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Health Services Administration, Mathematica Policy Research, or the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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