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PIO Data Elements

The PIO annual datasets include only licensed physicians providing patient care in Ontario for the equivalent of at least 50 days/year for the PIO report year.

Physician numbers in PIO Annual Reports have an effective annual census date of December 31st.

The following is a list of the data elements provided in the PIO Annual Report and the PIO Longitudinal Dataset on the PIO Report Resources page.

Age Range Physician age is calculated using (PIO report year – year of birth). Physician age aggregated into 5-year age ranges.
Census Division (CD) Census Division is a second-level census geographic unit defined by Statistics Canada, below provinces and territories. Census divisions may correspond to a county, a regional municipality or a regional district.
Census Subdivision (CSD) Census Subdivision is census geographic unit defined by Statistics Canada. Census subdivision is the general term for municipalities or areas treated as municipal equivalents for statistical purposes.
Gender Self-reported gender of the physician as per CPSO data and CPSO online registry. Starting in 2021, an ‘Other’ category (non-binary, unknown or undisclosed) is provided in addition to ‘Male’ and ‘Female’.
LHIN (legacy) Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is a legacy Health Planning Region of the Ontario Ministry of Health. Legacy LHIN is assigned annually to each physician’s primary practice address based on postal code. Data aggregated by legacy LHIN are not directly comparable to data aggregated by Ontario Health (OH) Regions.
OH Region Ontario Health (OH) Region is a Health Planning Region of the Ontario Ministry of Health. OH Region is assigned annually to each physician’s primary practice address based on postal code. Data aggregated by OH Region are not directly comparable to data aggregated using the Local Health Integration Networks (legacy LHINs).
PIO Specialty Primary practice specialty using nomenclature of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC). See PIO Methodology for details.
Physician to Population Ratio Physician to population ratio (PhysPer100K) represents the number of physicians per 100,000 population (1:100K). Population estimates are provided by the Ministry of Health and are based on Statistics Canada census data.
Year Calendar year (January 1st – December 31st).

 

Additions and Attritions must be considered together to accurately describe year-over-year change.

Additions Active physicians who were not present in the previous PIO report year are identified as ‘Additions’, and ARE included in the count of Active Physicians for the PIO report year.

Additions include both physicians newly entering practice and physicians returning to active practice.

Physicians may have been added to the count of active physicians for multiple reasons, ‘Addition Reason’ identifies the best reason for this change in status. See PIO Methodology for details.
Attritions Physicians from the previous PIO report year who are no longer active in the PIO report year are identified as ‘Attritions’. Attrition counts are NOT included in the count of Active Physicians for the PIO report year.

Attritions include both physicians leaving active practice either temporarily or permanently.

Physicians may have been excluded from the count of active physicians for multiple reasons, ‘Attrition Reason’ identifies the best reason for this change in status. See PIO Methodology for details.