Grant: Planning Grants - PA: Community-based Primary Healthcare

Regions of developed countries with improved access to primary care have decreased rates of hospitalization, decreased health care costs and less disparity in health across socio-cultural strata. Access to care is generally measured by the relatively crude metric of primary care physicians per unit of population. However, it is likely that other factors such as geography, cultural acceptability and the coordination of care among allied healthcare providers are significant determinants of accessibility to primary care, particularly for the disadvantaged populations that might have more difficulty navigating these potential barriers. The linkage and analysis of databases of information routinely collected for administrative purposes offers the distinct advantage of comprehensive population coverage that is unavailable with virtually all other data and facilitates the cross-jurisdictional measurement of the relationships between access, qualities of different primary care models and health outcomes. However, this is a relatively crude tool that cannot explain intricacies of the relationship between these factors at the small area level. Supplementing these studies with community-based qualitative research targeting outlier regions having outcomes well above and below the median, focusing particularly but not exclusively on those with disadvantaged populations, will allow us to clarify the factors making these regions stand out and recommend appropriate policy change. We will develop partnerships, research priorities, and a KT strategy through: 1. Establishment of an online team portal. 2. A pre-planning videoconference for team leaders. 3. Provincial-level meetings (at least one decision/policy maker, primary care provider, academic researcher, public delegate, and trainee). 4. A series of Webinars from qualified experts in primary care 5. A forum in St. John's for at least one representative of each province. Others will attend via videoconference.