RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Walk-in clinic patient characteristics and utilization patterns in Ontario, Canada: a cross-sectional study
JF CMAJ Open
JO CMAJ
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP E345
OP E356
DO 10.9778/cmajo.20220095
VO 11
IS 2
A1 Lapointe-Shaw, Lauren
A1 Kiran, Tara
A1 Salahub, Christine
A1 Austin, Peter C.
A1 Berthelot, Simon
A1 Desveaux, Laura
A1 Lofters, Aisha
A1 Maclure, Malcolm
A1 Martin, Danielle
A1 McBrien, Kerry A.
A1 McCracken, Rita K.
A1 Rahman, Bahram
A1 Schultz, Susan E.
A1 Shuldiner, Jennifer
A1 Tadrous, Mina
A1 Bird, Cherryl
A1 Paterson, J. Michael
A1 Bhatia, R. Sacha
A1 Thakkar, Niels A.
A1 Na, Yingbo
A1 Ivers, Noah M.
YR 2023
UL http://www.cmajopen.ca/content/11/2/E345.abstract
AB Background: Walk-in clinics are common in North America and are designed to provide acute episodic care without an appointment. We sought to describe a sample of walk-in clinic patients in Ontario, Canada, which is a setting with high levels of primary care attachment.Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study using health administrative data from 2019. We compared the sociodemographic characteristics and health care utilization patterns of patients attending 1 of 72 walk-in clinics with those of the general Ontario population. We examined the subset of patients who were enrolled with a family physician and compared walk-in clinic visits to family physician visits.Results: Our study found that 562 781 patients made 1 148 151 visits to the included walk-in clinics. Most (70%) patients who attended a walk-in clinic had an enrolling family physician. Walk-in clinic patients were younger (mean age 36 yr v. 41 yr, standardized mean difference [SMD] 0.24), yet had greater health care utilization (moderate and high use group 74% v. 65%, SMD 0.20) than the general Ontario population. Among enrolled Ontarians, walk-in patients had more comorbidities (moderate and high count 50% v. 45%, SMD 0.10), lived farther from their enrolling physician (median 8 km v. 6 km, SMD 0.21) and saw their enrolling physician less in the previous year (any visit 67% v. 80%, SMD 0.30). Walk-in encounters happened more often after hours (16% v. 9%, SMD 0.20) and on weekends (18% v. 5%, SMD 0.45). Walk-in clinics were more often within 3 km of patients’ homes than enrolling physicians’ offices (0 to < 3 km: 32% v. 22%, SMD 0.21).Interpretation: Our findings suggest that proximity of walk-in clinics and after-hours access may be contributing to walk-in clinic use among patients enrolled with a family physician. These findings have implications for policy development to improve the integration of walk-in clinics and longitudinal primary care.