Best-Managed-Elsewhere - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Percentage of people aged 16 and older who reported that their emergency department visit was for a condition that could have been managed by their primary care provider, if that provider had been available

Alternate Name

Visits to emergency for conditions people thought could have been treated by their primary care provider

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the percentage of people with a regular primary care provider who reported in a survey that the last time they went to the emergency department, it was for a condition that they thought could have been treated by their primary care provider if that provider had been available. It includes only patients aged 16 and older who visited the emergency department in the previous 12 months. A lower percentage is better.

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Effective, Efficient

Type

Outcome

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Percentage

Calculation Methods

The indicator is calculated as numerator divided by denominator times 100

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

The weighted number of survey respondents who reported that the last time they went to the emergency department, it was for a condition that they thought could have been treated by their primary care provider if that provider had been available.

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

Weighted number of survey respondents who reported having a primary care provider and visited emergency department because you were sick or for a health-related problem in the last 12 months

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 or 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. Data are based on self-reported information, whereby responses cannot be validated with respect to context and severity of or reason for visiting the emergency department instead of one’s primary care provider nor actual availability of the regular primary care provider.

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. After the regional and community weighting is applied. In the Measuring Up report the international and provincial comparisons are reported as well. 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.