Wait Times for Home Care Services
A low number is desirable for this indicator
The number of days that half of the clients waited for their first home care service and half were still waiting.
Start time: The date that the initial referral is received by the coordinating organization
Note: For clients who are in hospital when the referral is received, the start time will be the date they are discharged from hospital.
Stop time: The date when the first service is received (i.e., first home care event). This care event should not be for the sole purpose of conducting an assessment, arranging a service visit or checking in with the client.
Unit of analysis: Referral for home care service
Calculation of all-Canada estimates: The pan-Canadian value is calculated using a weighted average of the median wait times submitted by jurisdictions. Weights are calculated using the volumes of referrals submitted by jurisdictions. Jurisdictions that meet the data standards for this indicator are included.
Not applicable
The median number of calendar days that clients waited for their first home care service
Methodology
Name
Wait Times for Home Care Services
Short/Other Names
Home Care Wait Times
Description
The median number of calendar days that clients waited, from the date that the initial referral was received to the date when the first home care service was received.
Includes only services that are provided, coordinated or primarily funded by the government. This may include cases where a copay is required.
For the purpose of this indicator, home health is defined as services provided by home health care professionals (e.g., nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, clinical nutritionists).
Home support means assistance provided to clients to enable them to live at home. Includes only homemaking and personal care.
Rationale
Indicators of wait times are of high interest to both the Canadian public and system managers, as they reflect important aspects of experiences of care and of the responsiveness of the health system. Measuring wait times provides an indication of whether Canadians are getting timely access to home care services in the community.
Many factors affect wait times, such as availability of home care services and providers, the number of people requiring home care services, urgency of the client’s condition and client choice.
This indicator can be used to understand access to home care in the community and to know how jurisdictions are performing in terms of providing timely access to home care services.
Interpretation
A low number is desirable for this indicator
HSP Framework Dimension
Health system outputs: Access to comprehensive, high-quality health services
Areas of Need
Getting Better
Targets/Benchmarks
Not applicable
Available Data Years
to (fiscal years)
Geographic Coverage
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Prince Edward Island
- Ontario
- Manitoba
- Saskatchewan
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Northwest Territories
Reporting Level/Disaggregation
- National
- Province/Territory
- Type of service
- Gender
Indicator Results
Update Frequency
Every year
Latest Results Update Date
Updates
December 2024
Description
The number of days that half of the clients waited for their first home care service and half were still waiting.
Start time: The date that the initial referral is received by the coordinating organization
Note: For clients who are in hospital when the referral is received, the start time will be the date they are discharged from hospital.
Stop time: The date when the first service is received (i.e., first home care event). This care event should not be for the sole purpose of conducting an assessment, arranging a service visit or checking in with the client.
Unit of analysis: Referral for home care service
Calculation of all-Canada estimates: The pan-Canadian value is calculated using a weighted average of the median wait times submitted by jurisdictions. Weights are calculated using the volumes of referrals submitted by jurisdictions. Jurisdictions that meet the data standards for this indicator are included.
Type of Measurement
Number - Median (50th percentile) length of time, in days
Denominator
Description:
Not applicable
Inclusions:
Not applicable
Exclusions:
Not applicable
Numerator
Description:
The median number of calendar days that clients waited for their first home care service
Inclusions:
- The first of either home health services or home support services
- Home health includes services provided by any health care professional (e.g., nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists).
- Home support is limited to personal care and homemaking. Other home support services, such as home maintenance/adaptation or respite services, are not included.
- All ages and genders
Note: Information on gender is collected by Male, Female and Another gender. - All priority/urgency levels
- Only new referrals (i.e., referrals for new clients or clients who are being referred for a new episode of care)
- Home care visits in any setting
- Only face-to-face visits for home health (i.e., in person, videoconference)
- Only in-person visits for home support
- Client unavailable days (i.e., days when the client was not available to attend the appointment are included)
- System delays (i.e., days when the health care provider was not available to offer the service are included)
- Only referrals where the stop time (i.e., first home care service) occurred within the reporting fiscal year (April 1 to March 31)
Exclusions:
- Referrals for phone and email communications
- Home care services primarily funded by the government and arranged by the client
Method of Adjustment
Not applicable
Adjustment Applied
None
Covariates used in risk adjustment:
Not applicable
Geographic Assignment
Place of service
Data Sources
Provincial and territorial data collection systems
Coverage is considered full if referrals reported constitute 95% or more of those in the jurisdiction, partial if between 50% and 95%, and incomplete if below 50%. Results are not reported at the provincial/territorial level when coverage is incomplete.
- Newfoundland and Labrador (incomplete)
- Prince Edward Island (partial)
- Ontario (full)
- Manitoba (partial)
- Saskatchewan (full)
- Alberta (partial)
- British Columbia (full)
- Northwest Territories (partial)
2020–2021 data is not available for Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Nunavut and the Yukon.
2021–2022 data is not available for Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, British Columbia, Nunavut and the Yukon.
2022–2023 data is not available for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Nunavut and the Yukon.
2023–2024 data is not available for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Nunavut and the Yukon.
Caveats and Limitations
- Caution should be used when interpreting this data because this indicator does not include all home care services available in the community across Canada. This measure uses data collected from independent provincial and territorial systems, which have known variations in definitions and gaps in data coverage. There is a commitment among jurisdictions to work toward harmonizing definitions and improving comparability of results.
- Data coverage varies across Canada, with 2 main sources of missing data:
- Data by geography (e.g., data from health regions)
- Data by service type
- Differences in the organization, funding and availability of services; in eligibility for receiving publicly funded services; and in availability of care providers influence wait times across provinces and territories.
- There is no standard urgency classification or common benchmark wait time across the country, and clients of all urgency levels have been included. Differences in the mix of acuity levels across jurisdictions may result in differences in wait times.
- There are cases where delays to care are appropriate (e.g., scheduled bandage change). These delays are still captured in the wait time.
Trending Issues
Not applicable
References
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Glossary of terms. In: CIHI. Standards for Management Information Systems in Canadian Health Service Organizations. 2016.
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Glossary of terms. In: CIHI. Standards for Management Information Systems in Canadian Health Service Organizations. 2019.
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Home Care Reporting System Data Submission Specifications Manual. 2018.
How to cite:
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Wait Times for Home Care Services. Accessed April 25, 2025.
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Comments
This indicator belongs to the Shared Health Priorities portfolio measuring access to mental health and addictions services and to home and community care.
More information on this indicator is available in the 2021 companion report on the