Using 'Big Data' to Provide Insights Into Early Adopters of Continuing Professional Development: An Example From Project ECHO

Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions (04/12/23) Crawford, Allison; Sockalingam, Sanjeev; Serhal, Eva; et al.

Researchers characterized primary care organizations (PCOs) who were early adopters of the Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes Ontario Mental Health (ECHO ONMH) continuing professional development (CPD) program. They compared program-adopting PCOs and patients to nonadopter organizations by analyzing health administrative data from Ontario, Canada, for fiscal year 2014. The 280 physicians who adopted ECHO did not differ from the 273 nonadopters in terms of age or years of practice, though participation was more likely among PCOs with more female members. Regions with fewer psychiatrists were more likely to see ECHO ONMH adoption among PCOs following partial salary payment models and with more interprofessional members. There were no differences among patients of adopters in terms of gender or healthcare usage, but there was less psychiatric comorbidity among patients of adopter PCOs. "These findings support the use of administrative health data to assess the implementation, spread, and impact of CPD," the authors write.

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