Timely-access-to-primary-care-provider - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Same day or next day appointment (Timely access to primary care when sick)

Alternate Name

Percentages of people aged 16 and older who reported they were able to see their primary care provider, or another provider in their office, in either less than 2 days, 2-3 days, 4-7 days or 8 or more days, when they were sick or had a health concern.

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the percentage of people in Ontario aged 16 and older who reported that in the last 12 months when they were sick or were concerned that they had a health problem they were able to see their primary care provider (i.e. a family doctor, a general practitioner or GP, or nurse practitioner) or someone else in their office the same day or the next day (in less than 2 days)

The results can be reported for 2-3 days; 4-7 days and 8 or more days.

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Timely

Type

Process

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Percentage

Calculation Methods

Numerator divided by the denominator times 100

Numerator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

Weighted number of survey respondents who reported that in the last 12 months when they were sick or were concerned that they had a health problem they were able to see their primary care provider (i.e. a family doctor, a general practitioner or GP, or nurse practitioner) or someone else in their office the same day or the next day (in less than 2 days)

The results can be reported for 2-3 days; 4-7 days and 8 or more days.

Denominator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

Weighted number of respondents who reported that in the last 12 months they saw their primary care provider or someone else in their office when they were sick or were concerned that they had a health problem.

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- generalized

None

Data Source

Health Care Experience Survey (HCES)

Data provided to HQO by

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC)

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Age, Education, Immigration, Income, International comparison, Language, Province, Region, Rurality, Sex

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

Only people aged 16 years and older can complete the survey People living in institutions, in households without telephones, and those with invalid/missing household addresses in the Registered Persons Database (RPDB) are excluded. Respondents who were unable to speak English or French or were not healthy enough (physically or mentally) to complete the interview were not surveyed.

Comments Summary

The results are weighted to account for the design characteristics of the survey and post-stratified by age and sex to reflect the Ontario population. In addition, the LHIN and community weighting is applied. References ‘fill fd_type’ in the question can mean a family doctor, GP, nurse practitioner, or anyone else the respondent said they get their primary care from. International and provincial comparisons are reported in Measuring Up report. Data source for international and provincial comparisons is Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Adults , that has a similar question: The survey question in CMWF IHP is: “Last time you were sick or needed medical attention, how quickly could you get an appointment to see a doctor or a nurse? The CMWF survey population is adults aged 18 and older. A similar indicator is included n the primary care QIP as well. The data source for it is local data collection. The question advised in the QIP guidance document is: The last time you were sick or were concerned you had a health problem, how many days did it take from when you first tried to see your doctor or nurse practitioner to when you actually SAW him/her or someone else in their office? The education stratification analysis is done among those aged 25 and older. Urban/rural status is defined using Statistics Canada's Statistical Area Classification. Household income analysis does not consider the household composition.