Emergency department utilization and hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions among people seeking a primary care provider during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Primary care attachment improves health care access and health outcomes, but many Canadians are unattached, seeking a provider via provincial wait-lists. This Nova Scotia-wide cohort study compares emergency department utilization and hospital admission associated with insufficient primary care management among patients on and off a provincial primary care wait-list, before and during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We linked wait-list and Nova Scotian administrative health data to describe people on and off wait-list, by quarter, between Jan. 1, 2017, and Dec. 24, 2020. We quantified emergency department utilization and ambulatory care sensitive condition (ACSC) hospital admission rates by wait-list status from physician claims and hospital admi

SUBMITTER: Marshall EG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10287103 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature