Term: Majority of Care (Ambulatory)

Glossary Definition

Last Updated: 2013-10-30

Definition:

Majority of Care is a measure of whether individuals receive most of their ambulatory care from a single provider (versus two or more other providers). In MCHP research, the focus of this measure is on ambulatory visits to a physician. Usually, majority of care is measured as greater than 50% of vistis to one physician, physician group or clinic. In Lix et al. (2016), this threshold was more than 75%.

Notes:

• The term majority of care was initially used in Menec et al. (2000) who developed and investigated six different percentage cutoffs - 50%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75% and 80% of physician visits - for measuring majority of care. For more detailed information, see Section 2 - Menec et al. (2000) of the Measuring Majority of Care concept.
  
• In some MCHP deliverables, the Majority of Care measure is referred to as Continuity of Care - See Section 3 in the Measuring Majority of Care concept for more information on this.

Related concepts 

• Health Indicators: Indicators of Health Status and Healthcare Use
• Measuring Continuity of Care (Continuity of Care Index)
• Measuring Majority of Care
• Patient Allocation Algorithm: Assigning Patients to Physicians, Physician Groups or Clinics

Related terms 

• Ambulatory Visits - Physician
• Continuity Of Care (COC) (Ambulatory)
• Majority Source of Care (MSOC) Method of Patient Assignment
• Patient Allocation

References 

• Smith M, Finlayson G, Martens P, Dunn J, Prior H, Taylor C, Soodeen RA, Burchill C, Guenette W, Hinds A. Social Housing in Manitoba. Part II: Social Housing and Health in Manitoba: A First Look. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, 2013. [Report] [Summary] (View)

Term used in 

• Fransoo R, Martens P, The Need to Know Team, Prior H, Burchill C, Koseva I, Bailly A, Allegro E. The 2013 RHA Indicators Atlas. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, 2013. [Report] [Summary] [Additional Materials] (View)
• Lix L, Smith M, Pitz M, Ahmed R, Quon H, Griffith J, Turner D, Hong S, Prior H, Banerjee A, Koseva I, Kulbaba C. Cancer Data Linkage in Manitoba: Expanding the Infrastructure for Research. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, 2016. [Report] [Summary] (View)
• Menec V, Black C, Roos NP, Bogdanovic B. Defining Practice Populations for Primary Care: Methods and Issues. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation, 2000. [Report] [Summary] (View)