Article Figures & Tables
Tables
- Table 1:
Characteristics of primary care physicians and their practices in Alberta in 2015, categorized by practice status (part-time or full-time) determined by the service day activities method
Characteristic Part-time
n = 1170Full-time
n = 2151Physician characteristics Sex, male, no. (%) 512 (43.8) 1452 (67.5) No. of years since graduation, mean ± SD 20.4 ± 13.4 22.6 ± 11.7 International medical graduate, no. (%) 200 (17.1) 794 (37.0) Service days No. of service days with ≥ 10 patients, mean ± SD 78.4 ± 40.8 201.9 ± 39.0 No. of service days with ≥ 20 patients, mean ± SD 41.5 ± 36.9 154.8 ± 63.5 No. of service days with ≥ 1 patient, mean ± SD 115.6 ± 55.6 223.3 ± 41.2 No. of service days per week with ≥ 10 patients, mean 1.7 4.4 No. of service days per week with ≥ 1 patient, mean 2.5 4.8 No. of service days with < 10 patients, mean ± SD 37.2 ± 46.1 21.4 ± 23.0 No. of weekend service days with ≥ 10 patients, mean ± SD 12.0 ± 13.3 21.2 ± 20.1 No. of weekend service days with ≥ 20 patients, mean ± SD 9.3 ± 12.3 16.5 ± 18.7 Gross annual revenue, $, median (IQR) 147 265 (86 611–212450) 376 846 (284 797–502 128) Panel characteristics and patient volume Panel size, no. of patients, mean ± SD 343.2 ± 263.7 1199.8 ± 658.1 Percentage of claims from panel,* mean ± SD 45.2 ± 24.6 69.4 ± 21.3 Average patient volume,† mean ± SD 18.8 ± 10.5 27.9 ± 11.4 Practice location by zone,‡ no. (%) Zone 1 67 (5.7) 171 (7.9) Zone 2 495 (42.3) 785 (36.5) Zone 3 106 (9.1) 270 (12.6) Zone 4 365 (31.2) 727 (33.8) Zone 5 98 (8.4) 190 (8.8) Unknown zone 39 (3.3) 8 (0.4) Practice location by urban–rural continuum,‡ no. (%) Urban 101 (8.6) 242 (11.3) Metro 704 (60.2) 1127 (52.4) Moderate metro influence 99 (8.5) 301 (14.0) Moderate urban influence 6 (0.5) 24 (1.1) Rural 165 (14.1) 317 (14.7) Rural centre area 36 (3.1) 91 (4.2) Rural remote 20 (1.7) 41 (1.9) Unknown 39 (3.3) 8 (0.4) Note: IQR = interquartile range, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Proportion of claims for the patients in a primary care physician’s panel that are attributed to that physician.
↵† Average number of patients seen per day.
↵‡ Geographic zones and population density ranges along the urban–rural continuum defined by Alberta Health Services. (23), (24)
- Table 2:
Characteristics of primary care physicians and their practices in Alberta in 2015, categorized by whether the service day activities method and the income percentiles method agreed on the determination of practice status (part-time or full-time)
Characteristic PTAGREE
n = 931PTSFTI
n = 239FTSPTI
n = 251FTAGREE
n = 1900Physician characteristics Sex, male, no. (%) 355 (38.1) 157 (65.7) 108 (43.0) 1344 (70.7) κ* 0.677 (0.651–0.704) No. of years since graduation, mean ± SD 20.3 (13.8) 20.8 (12.0) 22.5 (11.5) International medical graduate, no. (%) 164 (17.6) 36 (15.1) 47 (18.7) 747 (39.4) Service days No. of service days with ≥ 10 patients, mean ± SD 70.0 (39.9) 110.8 (25.3) 166.6 (22.6) 206.5 (38.0) No. of service days with ≥ 20 patients, mean ± SD 30.9 (29.5) 82.8 (33.6) 67.99 (42.1) 166.3 (56.7) No. of service days with ≥ 1 patient, mean ± SD 107.2 (56.3) 148.2 (38.0) 189.0 (28.8) 227.8 (40.5) No. of service days per week with ≥ 10 patients, mean 1.5 2.41 3.6 4.5 No. of service days per week with ≥ 1 patient, mean 2.3 3.22 4.1 5.0 No. of service days with < 10 patients, mean ± SD 37.20 (45.8) 37.37 (47.3) 22.45 (20.5) 21.27 (23.4) No. of weekend service days with ≥ 10 patients, mean ± SD 8.08 (10.2) 24.07 (14.5) 8.63 (12.6) 22.42 (20.2) No. of weekend service days with ≥ 20 patients, mean ± SD 5.54 (8.7) 21.05 (14.3) 4.90 (9.5) 17.65 (18.9) Gross annual gross revenue, $, median (IQR) 122 716 (72 135–165 991) 300 327 (254 836–348 294) 201 834 (180 156–218 511) 400 516 (318 280–524 322) Panel characteristics and patient volume Panel size, no. of patients, mean ± SD 295.9 (212.0) 527.3 (351.0) 760.1 (226.3) 1257.8 (674.3) Percentage of claims from panel,† mean ± SD 47.1 (24.8) 38.0 (22.4) 72.0 (19.8) 69.1 (21.5) Average patient volume,‡ mean ± SD 16.7 (7.9) 26.8 (14.7) 17.8 (3.9) 29.3 (11.4) Practice location by zone,§ no. (%) Zone 1 56 (6.0) 11 (4.6) 13 (5.2) 158 (8.3) Zone 2 408 (43.8) 87 (36.4) 105 (41.8) 680 (35.8) Zone 3 83 (8.9) 23 (9.6) 14 (5.6) 256 (13.5) Zone 4 278 (29.9) 87 (36.4) 104 (41.4) 623 (32.8) Zone 5 67 (7.2) 31 (13.0) 14 (5.6) 176 (9.3) Unknown zone 39 (4.2) 0 (0) 1 (0.4) 7 (0.4) Practice location by urban–rural continuum,§ no. (%) Urban 72 (7.7) 29 (12.1) 19 (7.6) 223 (11.7) Metro 572 (61.4) 132 (55.2) 163 (64.9) 964 (50.7) Moderate metro influence 72 (7.7) 27 (11.3) 39 (15.5) 262 (13.8) Moderate urban influence 4 (0.4) 2 (0.8) 3 (1.2) 21 (1.1) Rural 126 (13.5) 39 (16.3) 16 (6.4) 301 (15.8) Rural centre area 30 (3.2) 6 (2.5) 6 (2.4) 85 (4.5) Rural remote 16 (1.7) 4 (1.7) 4 (1.6) 37 (1.9) Unknown 39 (4.2) 0 (0) 1 (0.4) 7 (0.4) Note: FTAGREE = physicians who were classified as working full-time by both methods, FTSPTI = physicians who were classified as working full-time by the service day activities method and part-time by the income percentiles method, IQR = interquartile range, PTAGREE = physicians who were classified as working part-time by both methods, PTSFTI = physicians who were classified as working part-time by the service day activities method and full-time by the income percentiles method, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Agreement between the service day activities method and the income percentiles method.
↵† Proportion of claims for the patients in a primary care physician’s panel that are attributed to that physician.
↵‡ Average number of patients seen per day.
↵§ Geographic zones and population density ranges along the urban–rural continuum defined by Alberta Health Services. (23), (24)
- Table 3:
Comparison of counts of primary care physicians in 2011–2015, categorized by whether the service day activities method and the income percentiles method agreed on the determination of practice status (part-time or full-time)
Year Total no. of physicians No. (%) of physicians κ (95% CI) PTAGREE PTSFTI FTSPTI FTAGREE 2015 3321 931 (28.0) 239 (7.2) 251 (7.6) 1900 (57.2) 0.68 (0.65–0.70) 2014 3182 839 (26.4) 237 (7.4) 245 (7.7) 1861 (58.5) 0.66 (0.64–0.69) 2013 3021 790 (26.2) 246 (8.1) 224 (7.4) 1761 (58.3) 0.65 (0.62–0.68) 2012 2900 755 (26.0) 210 (7.2) 228 (7.9) 1707 (58.9) 0.66 (0.63–0.69) 2011 2763 696 (25.2) 172 (6.2) 255 (9.2) 1640 (59.4) 0.65 (0.62–0.68) Note: CI = confidence interval, FTAGREE = physicians who were classified as working full-time by both methods, FTSPTI = physicians who were classified as working full-time by the service day activities method and part-time by the income percentiles method, PTAGREE = physicians who were classified as working part-time by both methods, PTSFTI = physicians who were classified as working part-time by the service day activities method and full-time by the income percentiles method.