ArticleCMAJ open
Trends in attachment to a primary care provider in Ontario, 2008-2018: an interrupted time-series analysis.
Article in CMAJ open. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Attributes of family physician encounters valued by older adults: a systematic review.BMC primary care · 2025Pooled it
- Assessing the Needs of Community Mental Health Service Users with Chronic Physical Health Conditions: A Cross-Sectional Study.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- An Equity-Driven Analysis of the Implications of Attachment and Attachment Readiness Within Primary Care Healthcare Systems in Canada.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Primary Care Attachment and Long-Term Mortality in Burn Survivors: A Population-Based Cohort Study.Journal of burn care & research : official publication of the American Burn Association · 2026Article
- Differences in Preventive Care Uptake in Attached and Unattached Rural-Living Residents.Health promotion practice · 2026Article
- Article
- Impact of grassroots development of interprofessional team-based practices: Retrospective matched cohort study using ICES data.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2026Article
- Regional and medical school variation in family medicine specialization choice: Canadian medical graduates from 2000 to 2023.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2026Article
- The use of centralized waiting lists for attachment to family physicians in Quebec, Canada: predictive factors and association with non-urgent emergency department use.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and addictions-related visits among citizens of the Métis Nation of Ontario: A repeated cross-sectional study.PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- Virtual Care Provision and Emergency Department Use Among Children and Youth.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Increased proportion of family medicine residents did not want to be family physicians: An unrecognized crisis in primary care.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2025Article
- Family Physicians in Focused Practice in Ontario, Canada: A Population-Level Study of Trends From 1993/1994 Through 2021/2022.Annals of family medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- The relationship between neighbourhood income and youth mental health service use differs by immigration experience: analysis of population-based data in British Columbia, Canada.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- Public experiences and perspectives of primary care in Canada: results from a cross-sectional survey.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAttachment to a regular primary care provider is associated with better health outcomes, but 15% of people in Canada lack a consistent source of ongoing primary care. We sought to evaluate trends in attachment to a primary care provider in Ontario in 2008-2018, through an equity lens and in relation to policy changes in implementation of payment reforms and team-based care.
methodsUsing linked, population-level administrative data, we conducted a retrospective observational study to calculate rates of patients attached to a regular primary care provider from Apr. 1, 2008, to Mar. 31, 2019. We evaluated the association of patient characteristics and attachment in 2018 using sex-stratified, adjusted, multivariable logistic regression models and used segmented piecewise regression to evaluate changing trends before and after implementation of a policy that restricted physician entry to alternate models.
resultsAttachment increased from 80.5% (
interpretationLack of sustained progress in attachment followed reduced levels of physician entry to alternate funding models. Although disparities narrowed for many groups over the study period, persistent gaps remained for immigrants and people with lower incomes; targeted interventions and policy changes are needed to address these persistent gaps.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.