Grant: Catalyst Grant: Breathing as One - Boehringer Ingelheim Canada COPD Grant

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic lung disease and contributes to the highest rates of hospital admissions among major chronic illnesses. Despite the advances in medical care and guidelines, there are differences in care and outcomes for these patients. Care is provided by both family physicians in the primary care setting and specialists, typically located in urban settings. Ideally, the patient is able to access the most appropriate level of care from this team of providers. However, barriers, such as geographical distance, specialist access and poor coordination, influence the provision of care. Thus, we aim to determine the characteristics of this team that are associated with the best outcomes for patients newly diagnosed with COPD. The overall aim of this project is to describe and understand the care provided by both primary care and specialist physician providers to patients newly diagnosed with COPD. We will determine if certain characteristics of this team of providers influence patient care and outcomes. We will also determine in patients over the age of 65, if these characteristics influence the type of medications prescribed. The overall goal of this project is to inform strategies for improvement in the integration of care for patients with COPD. We will carry out a population level study using health administrative data housed at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (IC/ES). We will identify Ontario adult patients newly diagnosed with COPD and describe health care contacts, medications prescribed (in patients over 65 years), and health care use during the first 5 years after COPD has been confirmed. Our study is designed to describe the characteristics of the network of healthcare providers and the influence of these provider network characteristics on patient care and outcomes.This project is innovative in 2 ways: 1) we are examining both primary and specialist care and 2) the use of (IC/ES) health information allows us to examine this network of healthcare providers at a provincial level. This information is essential for health system planning for this population. This project has the potential to improve the lung health of all adult Ontario residents by identifying gaps in COPD care in terms of health service use and medical management. We will provide information relevant to the strategies to optimize integrated care for patients with COPD.