To Count Heads or To Count Services? Comparing Population-to-Physician Methods with Utilization-Based Methods for Physician Workforce Planning: A Case Study in a Remote Rural Administrative Region of British Columbia

Abstract

The method targets an equitable distribution, rather than normative ideal physician supply. The magnitude of estimated surplus or deficit at the level of each specialty is greater with the population-to-physician ratio approach. The latter fails to consider interregional flow and specialty substitution. A population-based utilization approach is demonstrated to be a feasible, and in many ways superior, tool for physician resource planning.