Authors
Marcello Tonelli, Natasha Wiebe, Braden J Manns, Scott W Klarenbach, Matthew T James, Pietro Ravani, Neesh Pannu, Jonathan Himmelfarb, Brenda R Hemmelgarn
Publication date
2018/11/2
Journal
JAMA network open
Volume
1
Issue
7
Pages
e184852-e184852
Publisher
American Medical Association
Description
Importance
Clinical experience suggests that there are substantial differences in patient complexity across medical specialties, but empirical data are lacking.
Objective
To compare the complexity of patients seen by different types of physician in a universal health care system.
Design, Setting, and Participants
Population-based retrospective cohort study of 2 597 127 residents of the Canadian province of Alberta aged 18 years and older with at least 1 physician visit between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. Data were analyzed in September 2018.
Exposures
Type of physician seeing each patient (family physician, general internist, or 11 types of medical subspecialist) assessed as non–mutually exclusive categories.
Main Outcomes and Measures
Nine markers of patient complexity (number of comorbidities, presence of mental illness, number of types of physicians involved in each patient’s care, number of …
Scholar articles
M Tonelli, N Wiebe, BJ Manns, SW Klarenbach… - JAMA network open, 2018