[Primary care in Québec: a comparison between private practitioners and physicians working in public community health...

Since the early 1970s, there have been two primary care networks in Quebec: the traditional one characterized by fee-for-service; and the public one regrouping 10% of physicians and characterized by a salaried practice within publicly funded local institutions known as CLSCs. Using 1984 data collected on 616 Quebec generalists, 333 in private practice and 283 in CLSCs, we compared the physicians' profile in both networks. In contrast to their colleagues in private practice, CLSC physicians were younger, more often female and more involved in rural practice as well as in community health. They also differed in their attitudes and to some extent in their clinical practices. Overall, the study suggests that the introduction of a public primary care network has served to facilitate the emergence of a more comprehensive type of medical practice in the Quebec health care system.