title: Ecology of health care in Canada.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide a population-based, Canada-wide picture of health care needs and health care use, and present it in a highly accessible manner, allowing provincial comparisons and comparisons with other international jurisdictions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comparison of the rates of health care use among jurisdictions, using Canadian-population survey data and health administrative data.
  
  
  METHODS
  Provincial jurisdictions across Canada.
  
  
  METHODS
  Canadian and provincial rates of ill health (presence of chronic conditions) and health care use (contacts with family physicians, contacts with other specialist physicians, contacts with nurses, and hospitalizations) as monthly rates per 1000 population standardized by age and sex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The monthly rate per 1000 population of having at least 1 chronic condition ranged from 524 in Quebec to 638 in Nova Scotia; contacts with family physicians ranged from 158 in Quebec to 295 in British Columbia; contacts with other physician specialists ranged from 53 in Saskatchewan to 79 in Ontario; and contacts with nurses ranged from 23 in British Columbia to 41 in Quebec. Hospital stays ranged from 8 to 11 per 1000 people, and rates were similar among the provinces.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recognizing the differences among jurisdictions is critical to informing health care policy across the country. Differences persisted when rates were standardized for different age and sex compositions in the provinces. This article provides a straightforward methodology using publicly available data that can be employed in each province to examine, in the future, the evolution over time of health care use by provincial jurisdictions.
authors.affiliation: Distinguished University Professor in the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine at Western University in London, Ont, and the Dr Brian W. Gilbert Canada Research Chair in Primary Health Care Research. moira@uwo.ca.
authors.forename: Moira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University.
authors.forename: Bridget
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D002170:Canada; D017753:Ecosystem; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution