The availability of eConsult services has spread both geographically and in terms of specialty services offered. By allowing for a greater population to be served, access to care is being improved; however, long-term impact should continue to be assessed with a focus on patient safety, morbidity, mortality, and cost effectiveness metrics.
Wait times vary substantially by referral urgency and specialty type in Ontario. Calculating wait time from primary care clinics directly offers new perspectives on wait time one and enables clinics to target improvement efforts to best meet patient needs. Our findings will be relevant to providers and policy makers interested in implementing strategies to reduce wait times.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.