Table 3.
Characteristics of patients in Hamilton and Ontario accessing emergency department services for low-acuity presentations by primary care model from 2014/2015 to 2017/2018
| Demographics | Hamilton | Ontario (excluding Hamilton) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAP | FHT | CCM | FHG | NOG | CAP | FHT | CCM | FHG | NOG | ||
| Total number of low-acuity visits | 38,089a | 164,216 | 6,341 | 31,161 | 15,553 | 1,919,030 | 2,623,093 | 253,534 | 1,484,647 | 611,156 | |
| % of patients with at least one low-acuity ED visit | 10.2 | 11.0 | 10.4 | 10.2 | 11.4 | 9.5 | 14.0 | 9.6 | 7.6 | 10.6 | |
| Age (%) | 0 | 31 | 30 | 32 | 28 | 33 | 23 | 24 | 22 | 24 | 35 |
| 19-44 | 33 | 33 | 36 | 36 | 40 | 25 | 33 | 36 | 38 | 33 | |
| 45-75 | 30 | 30 | 27 | 31 | 25 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 32 | 27 | |
| 75+ | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | |
| Deprivation quintile (%) | 1 | 24 | 16 | 19 | 17 | 10 | 19 | 14 | 14 | 18 | 16 |
| 2 | 21 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 13 | 21 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 16 | |
| 3 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 17 | |
| 4 | 17 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 19 | |
| 5 | 21 | 28 | 26 | 35 | 36 | 20 | 22 | 26 | 23 | 27 | |
| Missing | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
| Gradient of quintile 5 to 1 (%)b | 7 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 8 | |
| Chronic condition (%) | AMI | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Asthma | 17 | 16 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 20 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 20 | |
| CHF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
| COPD | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 8 | |
| DM | 9 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 11 | |
| HTN | 19 | 19 | 17 | 20 | 15 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 18 | |
| MH | 26 | 24 | 27 | 35 | 26 | 27 | 25 | 32 | 20 | 29 | |
Abbreviations: AMI, acute myocardial infarction; CAP, Capitated models that do not include funding for non-physician providers; CCM, Comprehensive Care Model; CHF, congestive heart failure; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CTAS, Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale; DM, diabetes mellitus; ED, emergency department; FHG, Family Health Group; FHT, Family Health Team; HTN, hypertension; MH, mental health; NOG, not otherwise grouped; ON-Marg, Ontario marginalization.
a Low-acuity visits are defined as having a CTAS score ≥4.
b The gradient was calculated as the difference between the proportion of patients with a low-acuity ED visit in ON-Marg quintile 1 and quintile 5. The proportion of patients with such a visit is the total number of low-acuity ED users in a quintile divided by the total number of patients in that quintile. A gradient of 7% indicates that those in the most marginalized quintile experience a 7% greater absolute risk of an ED encounter compared to those in the least marginalized quintile.