Category(s):
Health
Status: Active
Principal: Sandra Magalhaes
Project Number: P0074
Year Approved: 2021
Children with complex health conditions make up only a small number of the total child population, but account for almost one third of all child health expenditures. These children require a high level of care coordination and support. However, in the Maritime Provinces the impact on the healthcare system is difficult to quantify because many of these children receive care across provincial boundaries. The opportunity to appropriately allocate healthcare resources to this vulnerable group in an efficient manner is dependent on being able to accurately identify these children at a population level. Multiple methods have been developed to identify children with medical complexity at a population level, but the accuracy of these tools has not yet been validated in a Canadian context. The interdisciplinary team composed of clinicians, parents and researchers from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick will select the best methods in the Maritime Provinces. Subsequently, a New Brunswick cohort will be defined with the selected method and used to determine the prevalence of children with complex medical needs and to understand the patterns of their healthcare use. Our findings will allow us to understand how these children use the health care system and will help us design better policies and interventions to meet the needs of these children and their families.
