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PIO Methodology

The Physicians in Ontario (PIO) annual datasets are derived from CPSO registration data, OHIP billing status, information collected on physician practices by the OPRC Physician Survey, as well as other secondary data sources.

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The Physicians in Ontario (PIO) annual datasets use the census date of December 31st of the PIO report year. Physicians who have ceased practice or left the province are removed, new physicians are added, physicians who have returned to practice are flagged, and updated physician location and specialty are integrated from the most reliable and accurate sources for each data element.  Each physician is counted only once.

OPRC’s primary data sources include: CPSO, OHIP, and the OPRC Physician Survey. Our secondary data sources include: the OPRC Postgraduate Medical Trainees in Ontario (PMTIO) dataset, the OPRC Physician Hospital Appointment Listing (PHAL) dataset, Scott’s Medical Database (SMDB), and OneKey Database (obtained under license from IQVIA Solutions Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved).

A detailed list of our data sources and exclusion/inclusion criteria and key variables are available to download in the PIO Longitudinal Dataset on the PIO Report Resources page.

The PIO annual datasets include only active physicians defined as currently licensed physicians providing patient care in Ontario for the equivalent of at least 50 days/year for the PIO report year (January 1st-December 31st).

To identify physicians for inclusion in PIO annual datasets, OPRC starts with all records from the CPSO registry as of the census date of December 31st of the PIO report year and excludes physicians that are known to be inactive due to license status, registration date, eligibility to bill OHIP, non-clinical practice, and/or involvement in postgraduate training.

For the remaining physicians, a variety of secondary data sources are used to confirm each their activity status, activity type, practice location, and PIO Specialty. Any physician whose practice type, practice activity or practice location cannot be determined are then surveyed using the OPRC Physician Survey.

Additions = Active in PIO the current report year and NOT Active in previous report year

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 current 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. These reasons include:

  1. Entered from Postgraduate Studies
  2. Newly Licenced
  3. Entered from Retirement
  4. Entered from Leave of Absence
  5. Entered from Out of Province
  6. Entered from Out of Country
  7. Entered from Non-Clinical Practice
  8. Resumed Active Practice
  9. Expired Licence Renewed
  10. Inactive Licence Restored
  11. Entered for Other Reason

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

Attritions = Active in previous PIO report year and NOT Active for PIO report year

Physicians from the previous PIO report year who are no longer active in the current report year are identified as ‘Attritions’. Attrition counts are NOT included in the count of Active Physicians for the current report year. The previous year’s PIO Specialty and practice location data are retained in the Attritions data.

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. These reasons include:

  1. Deceased
  2. Retired
  3. Leave of Absence
  4. Postgraduate Studies
  5. Out of Province
  6. Out of Country
  7. Non-Clinical Practice
  8. Insufficient Clinical Activity
  9. Licence Expired
  10. Licence Revoked or Suspended
  11. Inactive, Other Reason

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

Each physician has one or more certified specialty (specialty in which they are certified by RCPSC, CFPC, or other certifying body) and one or more functional specialty (specialty in which they currently practice).

Functional specialty is primarily identified using data from the OPRC Physician Survey. For physicians who have not been surveyed for the PIO report year, functional specialty is determined based on three or more matches of our secondary data sources. If there are fewer than three matches, the physician is surveyed to confirm their functional specialty.

Certified specialty is identified using data from CPSO.

In many cases, certified and functional specialty are the same. PIO Specialty is assigned based on the following rules.

  • PIO Specialty is the same as functional specialty for physicians who ARE certified in any specialty identified by RCPSC.
  • PIO Specialty is assigned as Family Medicine (FM) for physicians who are NOT certified in any specialty identified by RCPSC.

Physicians may have multiple practice locations including addresses outside Ontario. Physicians must have a practice location in Ontario to be included the PIO annual dataset.

The primary source for identifying practice location is the OPRC Physician Survey. For physicians who have not been surveyed for the PIO report year, practice location is determined based on three or more matches of our secondary data sources.

If there are fewer than three matches in our secondary data sources, the physician is surveyed to confirm whether their primary practice location is in Ontario.

Ontario Health (OH) Region and legacy LHIN are added to the primary practice location based on postal code. Population estimates for health regions are based on Statistics Canada census data.