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Using "Big Data" to Provide Insights into Early Adopters of Continuing Professional Development: An Example from
Allison Crawford1, Sanjeev Sockalingam, Eva Serhal
1Dr. Crawford, Medical Director, Outreach and Virtual Care; Chief Medical Officer, Canada Suicide Prevention Service, Co-Chair ECHO Ontario Superhub and ECHO Ontario Mental Health, Clinician Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON; Dr. Sockalingam, VP, Education at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, CAMH Clinician Scientist; Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON; Dr. Serhal, Senior Director of Virtual Mental Health, ECHO Ontario Mental Health, and Canadian Suicide Prevention Service, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON; Dr. Zhou, Lecturer and Staff Psychiatrist, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON; Dr. Gambin, Research Coordinator, Virtual Mental Health, ECHO Ontario Mental Health, and Canadian Suicide Prevention Service, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON; Dr. de Oliveira, Independent Scientist and Senior Health Economist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and Associate Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON; Ms. Iwajomo, Research Coordinator, Institute for Mental Health Policy Research (CAMH), and Appointed Analyst, Mental Health and Addictions Research Program at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), Toronto, ON; and Dr. Kurdyak, Director of Health Outcomes and Performance Evaluation, Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Medical Director of Performance Improvement at CAMH, Lead of the Mental Health and Addictions Research Program at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), and Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
Introduction:
Mental health care is often managed in primary care with limited specialist support, particularly in rural and remote communities. Continuing professional development programs (CPD) can offer a potential solution to further mental health training; however, engaging primary care organizations (PCOs) can be challenging. The use of "big data" to identify factors influencing engagement in CPD programs has not been well studied. Therefore, the aim of this project was to use administrative health data from Ontario, Canada to identify characteristics of PCOs associated with early engagement in a virtual CPD program, Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Ontario Mental Health (ECHO ONMH) .
Methods:
Ontario health administrative data for fiscal year 2014 was used to compare the characteristics of ECHO ONMH-adopting PCOs, and their patients, to nonadopter organizations (N = 280 vs. N = 273 physicians).
Results:
ECHO-adopting PCOs did not differ with respect to physician age or years of practice, although PCOs with more female physicians were somewhat more likely to participate. ECHO ONMH adoption was more likely in regions with lower psychiatrist supply, among PCOs using partial salary payment models, and those with a greater interprofessional complement. Patients of ECHO-adopters did not differ on the basis of gender or health care utilization (physical or mental health); however, ECHO-adopting PCOs tended to have patients with less psychiatric comorbidity.
Discussion:
Models such as Project ECHO, which deliver CPD to primary care, are advanced to address lack of access to specialist health care. These findings support the use of administrative health data to assess the implementation, spread, and impact of CPD.
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