After-hours primary care and non-urgent emergency department use by adult patients from St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador ...
Background: Wait times in Canadian Emergency Departments are among the highest in the industrialized world, and avoidable Emergency Department (ED) visits have been associated with greater costs. Primary Objective: Describe the relationship between after-hours care by Family Physicians (FPs) and low...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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Memorial University of Newfoundland
2023
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.48336/s7sd-wb40 https://research.library.mun.ca/15896/ |
| Summary: | Background: Wait times in Canadian Emergency Departments are among the highest in the industrialized world, and avoidable Emergency Department (ED) visits have been associated with greater costs. Primary Objective: Describe the relationship between after-hours care by Family Physicians (FPs) and low-acuity ED visits by adult patients from the St. John’s Metropolitan Area (SJMA), while controlling for non-modifiable patient characteristics. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional observational study utilizing administrative data (2011-2015) was performed. Residents of the SJMA were assigned to their most frequent provider of primary care services according to Fee-For-Service (FFS) billings and patient records from university-affiliated Academic Family Physicians (AFPs). FPs practicing under the FFS model were categorized according to the percentage of their billings that included a supplementary after-hours fee code (i.e., <5%, 5-14.9%, 15-24.9%, and >25%), which served as a proxy for access to ... |
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