The impact of introducing multidisciplinary care assessments on access to rheumatology care in British Columbia: an interrupted time series analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In 2011 the British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Health introduced a new fee-for-service billing code that allowed "Multidisciplinary Care Assessment" (MCA). This change has the potential to change access to and quality of care for patients. This study aimed to explore the impact on access to rheumatology services in the province.

Methods

Fee-for-service rheumatology billings were evaluated for each rheumatologist 2 years before and after use of the MCA code. Numbers of 1) unique patients and 2) services provided per month were used as proxy measures of access to care. A multiple-baseline interrupted time series model assessed the impact of the MCA on levels and trends of the access outcomes.

Results

Our analysis consisted of 82,360 patients cared for by 26 rh

SUBMITTER: Duncan R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8915460 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature