Physician-workforce-Ontario - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Number of physicians in Ontario per 100,000 people (Retired)

Alternate Name

Number of family doctors and specialists practicing in Ontario per 100,000 people

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the number of licensed physicians practising in Ontario per 100,000 people. It includes family doctors and specialists.

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Efficient

Type

Structure

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Number per 100,000 people

Calculation Methods

This indicator is calculated by dividing the number of doctors by the number of people in Ontario or region, and multiplying it by 100,000 to get the number of doctors per 100,000 people.

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

Number of licensed doctors actively practising in Ontario as of December 31

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

Estimated number of people living in Ontario or region

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- generalized

None

Data Source

Ontario Ministry of Finance population projections, OPHRDC Physicians in Ontario report, Statistics Canada population estimates

Data provided to HQO by

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC), Ontario Physician Human Resources Data Centre (OPHRDC)

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Region, Time

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

The indicator values calculated using data provided to HQO from OPHRDC may differ from the values reported by others or the values calculated by HQO from data provided by CIHI. The differences may be due to differences in inclusion/exclusion criteria, timing of data collection and reference population. The measure looks at the number of health care providers per 100,000 population, however it does not account for differences in scope of practice or differences in the health status/needs of the population being served in each region. The population of one health region may receive health care in another health region, impacting the supply and type of doctors required in different regions. This is common for regions bordering larger urban areas.

Comments Summary

“Specialists” includes doctors from the following specialties: internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, laboratory medicine, and other specialties (e.g., anesthesiology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, public health and preventive medicine). “Family doctors” includes family doctors and family doctors with certification in emergency medicine. Retired from Measuring Up