Orthopedic and ophthalmology surgical service forecast modelling in Manitoba: Research approach for a data linkage study.

Background: The healthcare system in Manitoba, Canada has faced long wait times for many surgical procedures and investigations, including orthopedic and ophthalmology surgeries. Wait times for surgical procedures is considered a significant barrier to accessing healthcare in Canada and can have negative health outcomes for patients. We developed models to forecast anticipated surgical procedure demands up to 2027.

Comparing the Effect of Throughput and Output Factors on Emergency Department Crowding: A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study.

Study Objective: This study compares how throughput and output factors affect emergency department (ED) median waiting room time.

Methods: Administrative health care use records were used to identify all daytime (8 am to 8 pm) visits made to adult EDs in Winnipeg, Canada, between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2013. First, we measured the waiting room time (from patient registration until transfer into the ED) of each index visit (incoming patient).

Frequent users of emergency departments: developing standard definitions and defining prominent risk factors.

Study Objective: We identify factors that define frequent and highly frequent emergency department (ED) users.

Methods: Administrative health care records were used to define less frequent (1 to 6 visits), frequent (7 to 17 visits), and highly frequent (≥18 visits) ED users. Analyses were conducted to determine the most unique demographic, disease, and health care use features of these groups.

Pediatric primary care services in Manitoba: is the health of the next generation of children at risk?

Objectives: Physician resource planning is an important part of health policy, but to date there are no studies measuring the primary care service needs of a particular population. The aim of this study was to project the expected provision of physician services for the pediatric population of one Canadian province for 2020.

Methods: A novel standardized measure of physician service provision, the equivalent services measure, was developed using mathematical modeling.

Learning from the census: the Socio-economic Factor Index (SEFI) and health outcomes in Manitoba.

Objectives: Using data from the Canadian census, researchers at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy sought to create an area-based socio-economic measure (ABSM). The degree of association between the ABSM and health was evaluated.

Methods: Values on several census variables (including income, education, employment and family structure) were captured at the enumeration-area or dissemination-area level and submitted to a principal components factor analysis to create three ABSMs: an updated version of the Socio-economic Factor Index (SEFI-2) and modified versions of Pampalon's material deprivation and social deprivation indices.

Home care for older couples: "it feels like a security blanket . . .".

In this article, the authors explore the home care experience as described by older physically impaired individuals and their caregiving spouses. Separate face-to-face semistructured interviews were carried out with each spouse from nine couples. Analysis of the interview data revealed four themes.

Can the quality of care in family practice be measured using administrative data?

Objective: To explore the feasibility of using administrative data to develop process indicators for measuring quality in primary care.

Data Sources/study Setting: The Population Health Research Data Repository (Repository) housed at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy which includes physician claims, hospital discharge abstracts, pharmaceutical use (Drug Program Information Network (DPIN)), and the Manitoba Immunization Monitoring Program (MIMS) for all residents of Manitoba, Canada who used the health care system during the 2001/02 fiscal year. Family physicians were identified from the Physician Resource Database.

Data quality in an information-rich environment: Canada as an example.

This review evaluates the quality of available administrative data in the Canadian provinces, emphasizing the information needed to create integrated systems. We explicitly compare approaches to quality measurement, indicating where record linkage can and cannot substitute for more expensive record re-abstraction. Forty-nine original studies evaluating Canadian administrative data (registries, hospital abstracts, physician claims, and prescription drugs) are summarized in a structured manner.

Working more productively: tools for administrative data.

Objective: This paper describes a web-based resource (http://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/mchp/concept/) that contains a series of tools for working with administrative data.