Table 2 Synthesized assessment of shortlisted HWP models for the service requirement and capacity projections
Models identified | Capacity for needs-based projections of service requirement | Capacity for local-level planning | Capacity to accommodate short planning horizons | Capacity for multi-professional planning | Capacity to conduct scenario analyses | Capacity to engage the workforce | Capacity to account for changing practice patterns | Capacity to account for population mobility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canadian Institutes for Health Information Population Grouping Methodology [17] | Service requirements predicted as a function of demographic and clinical profiles of individual patients | Data outputs are at the level of the individual, and can be aggregated to a variety of planning levels/regions | Single-year projection that can be run as a time series to project further | Projects service requirements for primary care physician visits | Not addressed | Not addressed | Not addressed | Not addressed |
Needs-Based Health Human Resource Planning Framework [14] | Projects need as a function of a population’s demographic and epidemiological profile, a determined level of service, and a productivity function | Has been applied at provincial and national levels, but authors claim that it can be applied to any jurisdiction | Yearly projections over a determined period | Can produce separate estimates for any provider group | Allows for scenario analysis of policy options, as well as sensitivity analysis | Not addressed | Incorporates activity and participation rates that can vary over time for each and sex cohort | Not addressed |
Service and Competency-Based Health Workforce Planning [8] | Projects need as a function of a population’s demographic and epidemiological profile, a determined level of service, and a productivity function | Used at the regional level | Describes current alignment | Accounts for all professions involved in the provision of identified competencies and/or services | Uses scenarios to assess gaps based on differing rates of prevalence | Workshops to validate competency list, identify relevant scopes of practice, and determine proportion of patients requiring each competency | Incorporates activity and participation rates | Not addressed |
Manitoba’s Needs-Based Planning for Generalist Physicians [18] | Compares actual utilization rates with number of visits needed, which is projected as a function of age, sex, health-related indicators, and socioeconomic characteristics | Data collected for 54 service areas and aggregated into 4 regions | Describes current alignment | Output is an aggregate of required physician visits, which encompasses general practitioners, general internist, and general paediatrician | Not addressed | Not addressed | Accounts for variation in average visit workload across regions | Produces an estimate of visit requirements generated by residents and non-residents who access care within a region while accounting for the proportion of care that each of these populations seek elsewhere |