Comparison of Consultant Pediatricians in an Ontario Community with their Provincial Counterparts

Pediatric practice in Canada reflects both the British (consultant) and American (primary care) forms of pediatric practice. Since primary care in Canada is provided mostly by family doctors, there have been concerns about manpower and costs of pediatric practice. It has been suggested that Canadian pediatricians would not be able to survive in consultant practice only. This article compares the practice profiles of three consultant pediatricians working in an Ontario community of 150,000, served by 82 family doctors, with the profiles of all other Ontario pediatricians. Although the services provided were quite different, there was little difference in the number of services rendered, and the total amounts billed. The authors conclude that while mixed pediatric practice is likely to continue for some time, Canada urgently needs to reassess manpower needs in this specialty, since the present laissez-faire system is resulting in too many pediatricians for the British method of practice, and too few for the American method.