Paying for Primary Care: Payment Reform and Primary Care Physician Behaviour in Ontario

Speaker: David Rudoler

Date/Time: February 13, 10 AM – 12 PM

Abstract:

The Ontario government introduced several alternatives to fee-for-service (FFS) payment for primary care physicians (PCPs), including age-sex adjusted capitation (CAP). We have conducted a series of studies using patient and PCP level administrative data (1999/00 – 2010/11) from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences to analyze changes in service volume and case-mix across payment models in Ontario. We analyzed PCP characteristics associated with selection into different payment models, and controlled for this selection effect in our analysis of the impact of changes in payment incentives. This talk will present preliminary results from this work.

Biography:

David Rudoler is a PhD Candidate at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Centre for Health Economics. His research focuses on how, and the extent to which, primary care physicians respond to payment reforms; in particular, how change in payment affects rostering and service provision for highly complex patients. In addition, he explores how changes in rostering and service provision are related to changes in primary care costs. David’s research utilizes health policy and health economic theory, and applies a variety of econometric methods to Ontario health administrative data.