Original ArticleGeographic distribution of ophthalmologists in Ontario: a 10-year review
Section snippets
Methods
The geographic distribution of ophthalmologists in Ontario was assessed using the Intellihealth database, powered by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care of Ontario. The Medical Services Provider data source was accessed via Intellihealth and contains demographic information on the total number of physicians who submitted Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) claims for financial remuneration. Physicians were retrieved as ophthalmologists if the majority of their billing claims were under
Results
A total of 49 different counties in Ontario were included in this study: 22 low-population, 16 medium-population, and 11 high-population counties. A total of 41 counties (83.6%) had at least 1 ophthalmologist from April 1999 to March 2011. This number grew from 35 counties in the 2000 fiscal year to 39 in the 2010 fiscal year. Figure 1 shows the growth in ophthalmologists in each segment of the population per 100 000 population. There was no statistically significant difference among small,
Discussion
The concentration of ophthalmologists varies greatly by geographic location, with urban areas accounting for the best ratio of ophthalmologists to population, which is consistent with previous studies in the United States.7 However, the number of Ontario ophthalmologists in urban areas grew at a slower rate than the general population from April 1999 to March 2011. Only counties with populations ranging from 100000 to 400000 saw a modest improvement in this ratio over the 10-year study period.
Disclosure
The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
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