Nicole Kain¹
Nigel Ashworth^1,2, Nancy Hernandez-Ceron¹, Ed Jess¹, Iryna Hurava¹ and Parisa Hamayeli- Mehrabani¹
1 College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta
2 University of Alberta

Growing numbers of physicians are working in a group practice/clinic setting. Yet, little is known about how this impacts physician performance and patient care. The College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) is the medical regulatory authority (MRA) for the province of Alberta, Canada. CPSA is mandated to assess physician performance and continuing competence, and has historically done this at the individual level. The Group Practice Review (GPR), assesses performance at the group/clinic level. The goal of this study is to use the GPR to identify potential risk and protective factors of family medicine/general practitioner (FM/GP) physician group performance. 

Seventy FM/GP clinics participated in the GPR program from 2017-2019. Group performance was determined via the groups’ compliance with the CPSA’s Standards of Practice (SOP). A logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of high performing group practices; those more likely to comply with the SOPs. 

3. Results 

Three factors were identified to predict FM/GP group SOP compliance: prescribing practices, workload and chart scores. Groups with potentially harmful prescribing practices; and/or higher than average volume of patients were less likely to comply with CPSA’s SOPs. Groups with more physicians and better chart scores were more likely to comply with the SOPs. 

This study is one of the first to consider predictors of physician group performance. While this research has limitations, it increases understanding of the impact of group practice on physician performance. 

Prescribing, workload and charting all appear to have an impact on FM/GP group performance. With increasing trends towards physician group practice, consideration of the impact of group practice is important for MRAs to both support physicians and protect the public. 

6. Take-home messages / implications for further research or practice
MRAs can identify potentially poorly performing FM/GP clinics. 

References (maximum three) 

No references