Grant: Project Grant

People with dementia face unique challenges in their healthcare journey due to their complex health and social needs. To ensure better care and outcomes, it is critical to integrate and maintain continuity across the different healthcare services they use. However, limited data on their healthcare utilization patterns across the continuum limits efforts to optimize their care. Analyzing care trajectories, described as healthcare use over time, is an approach that could help identify areas for improvement and critical transition points. Our objectives are to: 1) describe care trajectories and transitions for people living with dementia; 2) describe the determinants that predict these trajectories and how they relate to health outcomes and transitions; and 3) identify key areas of vulnerability and propose recommendations to improve them. To address these objectives, we will conduct a study using data from the Quebec Health Insurance Plan, which consists of approximately 130,000 people diagnosed with dementia between 2018 and 2023. The analysis of care trajectories will be based on indicators related to the use of care (e.g., place of consultation, type of clinician consulted). This will allow us to identify groups of patients with similar care trajectories. We will then describe the transitions that compose these trajectories and identify the associated health outcomes using various innovative methods. Finally, we will organize workshops that will include decision-makers, health professionals, and caregivers, to jointly develop recommendations for care optimization. Understanding the different care trajectory profiles of people with dementia will help plan and organize services that are better adapted to their needs.