Association between having a primary care physician and health behavioral intention in Japan: results from a nationwide survey

Introducing a primary care physician (Kakaritsuke-I: KI) system to improve the efficiency of the health care system has been controversial in Japan. This study aimed to determine the relevance of KI to an individual’s health behavioral intentions. We used data from a nationwide, population-based internet survey (N = 5,234) to conduct a cross-sectional regression analysis. Additionally, we used a propensity score matching method to mitigate the potential endogenous biases inherent in the decision to have a KI. KI was positively associated with various behavioral intentions. For example, the probabilities of intending to eat a well-balanced diet and engaging in moderate exercise were 12.8 (95