Identification of the physician workforce providing palliative care in Ontario using administrative claims data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Little is known about the physician workforce providing palliative care in Canada, and in Ontario specifically. We developed an algorithm to identify palliative care physicians using administrative claims data and validated it against a reference sample. We then applied the algorithm to all general practitioners/family physicians (GP/FPs) in the province of Ontario to describe and quantify those identified by the algorithm.

Methods

W e reviewed Ontario Health Insurance Plan claims from Jan. 1, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2011, to determine each physician's proportion of claims that were for palliative care. We empirically selected a data-driven cut-off, whereby physicians whose proportion of palliative care claims was above the threshold were defined as palliative care phys

SUBMITTER: Barbera L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4593465 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul-Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature