CONNECTING COMMUNITIES TO BETTER HEALTH
Primary Care Capacity Model
Want to know how many primary care providers a community can support?
The Western Washington Area Health Education Center (WWAHEC) in partnership with Rural Health Works and the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy developed the Primary Care Capacity Model to help determine primary care physician and midlevel staff needed to serve communities in western Washington.
Understanding approximate capacity for supporting primary care practices can help local hospitals, health departments, rural health clinics and community and migrant health centers make strategic decisions on recruitment of primary care providers. Having an understanding of whether a market is above or below capacity leads to a better understanding of market share and practice sustainability.
For additional information on primary care capacity and community assessment, contact Jodi Palmer, Executive Director, WWAHEC.
Primary Care Capacity Model Instructions
This model is based on a series of Excel worksheets that provide templates with multipliers in place for the model from step two forward.
Download the Primary Care Capacity Model Worksheets
Step 1: Identify the geographic area for analysis…
Identify the geographic area for analysis; this can be by community, health service area, zip code or county.
Determine population statistics to be used in analysis. Census data for 2010 is available on the Office of Financial Management Website HERE.
Using current census data, combine populations in groups into the six age-defined categories provided in the worksheet. Gender percentages are provided in the census population and need to be applied to the age categories.
Step 2: Enter the population numbers…
Enter the population numbers based on age categories by gender in the second worksheet that then creates the number of visits by age and gender using a national standards multiplier.
Based on the national standard of 62.2 percent visits as primary care visits; this creates the figure for total number of primary care visits.
Step 3: Enter the total number of primary care visits…
Enter the total number of primary care visits into the third worksheet in the cell for 100 percent market share. The worksheet calculates the number of primary care providers by incremental market share captured.
Annual visits per year per FTE - This number is based on national standards. Verify the FTE status of current primary care providers in the market analysis geographic area.
Notes on the Model
It is important to include the population that is outside of the identified census site, i.e. unincorporated areas. These numbers must be proportioned by the age and gender categories identified in the worksheet template.
This model assumes primary care productivity standards of 24 patient visits per day per provider or 4,976 annual visits. This is very similar to data referenced by the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center (working paper #45) whereby a full-time standard used to assign FTEs was 105 ambulatory visits a week, projecting at 48 weeks equals 5,040 visits.
Though this model has been built for primary care physicians, WWAHEC included mid-level providers due to the large number of rural health clinics that require mid-level providers. The WWAHEC counted mid-level providers at 75 percent FTE, citing a study from the UW Center for Workforce Studies (working paper #64, June 2001 - "The Contribution of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants to Generalist Care in Underserved Areas of Washington State").
