Uptake of the new fee code for Ontario's enhanced 18-month well baby visit

Evidence Guiding Health Care Uptake of the New Fee Code for Ontario’s Enhanced 18-Month Well Baby Visit: A Preliminary Evaluation June 2011 Uptake of the New Fee Code for Ontario’s Enhanced 18-Month Well Baby Visit: A Preliminary Evaluation Authors Astrid Guttmann, MDCM, MSc Julie Klein-Geltink, MHSc Alex Kopp, BSc John Cairney, PhD June 2011 Uptake of the New Fee Code for Ontario’s Enhanced 18-Mo [...] Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences iii June 2011 Uptake of the New Fee Code for Ontario’s Enhanced 18-Month Well Baby Visit: A Preliminary Evaluation About ICES About ICES Ontario’s resource for informed health care decision-making The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) is an independent, non-profit organization that produces knowledge to enhance the effectiveness of health [...] In recognition of this, the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services convened an Expert Panel on the 18-Month Well Baby Visit to develop a report that would provide the basis for a provincial strategy to support standardized developmental review and evaluation at 18 months for each child in Ontario. [...] The billing requirement to claim this increased fee is the documentation of a discussion of the child’s development using screening tools completed by the parent/caregiver (the Nipissing District Developmental Screen) and by the physician (the Rourke Baby Record). [...] The highest proportion of general practitioners billing at least once for an enhanced well baby visit belonged to the South West and Waterloo Wellington LHINs (68% and 67%, respectively) and the lowest proportion belonged to the Toronto Central, North East and North West LHINs (46%, 46% and 44%, respectively).