Primary care practice reports: administrative data profiles for identifying and prioritizing areas for quality improvement

Information to help guide quality improvement activities in primary care should be readily available, routinely updated and include comparisons across groups, regions and jurisdictions. Primary care practice reports, developed jointly by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Health Quality Ontario, is one such effort. These data include practice demographics, the prevalence of common chronic conditions, the use of health services and measures of chronic disease prevention and management. All Ontario primary care physicians can register for the profiles online using a secure logon; the profiles are available only to them. Enhancements under development include new formats, targets and tools to support quality improvement.