title: Regional variation in home care use in Manitoba.
abstract: Previous studies report geographic variation in the use of home care services. In the province of Manitoba, home care is a core service that Manitoba's twelve regional health authorities (RHAs) are obligated to deliver. Manitoba's RHAs range from remote northern and rural southern regions to a major city, resulting in different challenges for delivering home care. Given this potential for inconsistent delivery and the previous findings of regional variation in other settings, the objective of this study was to measure and assess variation in the use of home care across Manitoba's RHAs. We used data from the Provincial Home Care Program's client registry, other health care administrative databases, and Vital Statistics. Home care use was measured using multiple indicators, including rates of population use, use after hospitalization, before entry to a long-term care facility, and before death. While some important differences emerged, overall we found comparable use of home care across Manitoba.
authors.affiliation: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, 727 McDermot Avenue, Suite 408, Winnipeg, MB, R3E 3P5, Canada. Sandra_Peterson@cpe.umanitoba.ca
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Evelyn
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: Noralou P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Roos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008350:Manitoba; D008875:Middle Aged