Does Receiving Clinical Preventive Services Vary across Different Types of Primary Healthcare Organizations? Evidence from a Population-Based Survey

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To measure the association between primary healthcare (PHC) organizational types and patient coverage for clinical preventive services (CPS). METHOD: Study conducted in Quebec (2005), including a population-based survey of patients' experience of care (N=4,417) and a survey of PHC clinics. OUTCOME MEASURES: Patient-reported CPS delivery rates and CPS coverage scores. Multiple logistic regressions used to assess factors associated with higher probability of receiving CPS. RESULTS: CPS delivery rates were higher among patients with a regular source of PHC. Higher CPS score was associated with having a public (OR 1.79; 95% CI 1.35-2.37) or mixed (OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.01-1.48) type of organization as source of PHC compared to a private one, and having had a high number of visits to the regular source of PHC in the past two years (≤6: OR 1.83; 95% CI 1.41-2.38) compared to a single visit. CONCLUSION: Public and mixed PHC organizations seem to perform better. CPS delivery is strongly associated with having a regular source of care.