Coordination of Care Could Improve: Canadian Results from the Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians

Vanessa Sovran; Alison Ytsma; Liudmila Husak; Tracy Johnson

doi:10.12927/hcq.2020.26283

Coordination of Care Could Improve: Canadian Results from the Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians

Healthc Q. 2020 Jul;23(2):6-8. doi: 10.12927/hcq.2020.26283.

Authors

Vanessa Sovran¹, Alison Ytsma², Liudmila Husak³, Tracy Johnson⁴

Affiliations

¹ A senior coordinator in health reports at CIHI in Toronto, ON. She supports analytic projects and is responsible for knowledge translation/exchange, stakeholder engagement and project management activities. She can be reached at vsovran@cihi.ca.
² A program lead in health reports at CIHI in Toronto, ON. She leads a variety of analytic projects and has led a number of CIHI's international projects, including the Commonwealth Fund survey and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development eTool project.
³ A manager in health reports at CIHI in Toronto, ON. She is responsible for managing analytic projects and overseeing the work of the team.
⁴ The director of health system analysis and emerging issues at CIHI in Toronto, ON. She is responsible for the vision, leadership and stakeholder relationships to develop analytical products.

PMID: 32762812
DOI: 10.12927/hcq.2020.26283

Abstract

Care coordination is a critical component of a strong primary care system. The Commonwealth Fund (CMWF) 2019 International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians polled physicians in 11 countries, allowing international and pan-Canadian comparisons of physicians' perspectives in this area. Canadian physicians indicated that there was room for improvement in coordinating care with those outside their practice, particularly specialists, home-based care providers and social services. Opportunities may arise in learning from higher-performing CMWF countries and in adopting new information technologies that are growing methods of facilitating communication across care settings.

MeSH terms

Canada
Continuity of Patient Care*
Humans
Physicians, Primary Care / statistics & numerical data*
Practice Patterns, Physicians'
Primary Health Care / methods
Primary Health Care / organization & administration*
Social Work
Surveys and Questionnaires