Medication-review - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Medication review with Primary Care Provider or Pharmacist

Alternate Name

Percentage of people aged 16 and older who reported in the last year that they reviewed their prescription medications with their primary care provider (i.e., a family doctor, a general practitioner or GP, or nurse practitioner) or pharmacist.

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator shows the percentage of people aged 16 or older who said their primary care provider or pharmacist reviewed their prescription medications with them during the previous 12 months, in Ontario. Helping patients manage their medications is important to ensure the medications are safe for them and contribute to better health outcomes. The primary care provider or pharmacist performing the review should be aware of all medications prescribed to the patient; clarify how the patient is using each medication; and educate the patient about each medication. A higher percentage is better.

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Patient-centred, Safe

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 they reviewed or discussed the prescription medication(s) they are using with their primary care provider or pharmacist.

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

Weighted number of survey respondents who reported that they are taking prescription medications.

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- generalized

None

Data Source

Health Care Experience Survey (HCES)

Data provided to HQO by

Ministry of Health

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Age, Education, Immigration, Income, 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, non-residential phone numbers, and people with invalid/missing household addresses in the Registered Persons Database (RPDB) are not captured. Respondents who were unable to speak English or French or were not healthy enough (physically or mentally) to complete the interview were not surveyed. The Health Care Experience Survey (HCES) on which the indicator data are based has been affected by reduced surveying in 2023. The 2023 data are unreliable for some indicator results, so those are not reported. Please note that results for 2023 are based on data collected from April to December 2023 rather than during the entire calendar year.

Comments Summary

The results are weighted to account for the design characteristics of the survey and post-stratified by age and sex to reflect Ontario population. References to ‘your provider' in the questionnaire can mean a family doctor, GP, nurse practitioner, or anyone else the respondent said they get their primary care from. The education stratification analysis is restricted to people aged 25 and older. Urban/rural status is defined using Statistics Canada's Statistical Area Classification. Household income analysis does not consider household composition. This indicator was selected by the PCPM prioritization group with the stipulation that when reporting this indicator, an equity cross-cut would be the focus of attention.