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Primary and virtual care access: Emergency department visits for primary care conditions

1 in 7 visits to the emergency department were for conditions that could potentially be managed in primary care. Over half of these could potentially be managed virtually.
1 in 7 visits to the emergency department were for conditions that could potentially be managed in primary care. Over half of these could potentially be managed virtually.

It is important for Canadians to have a regular health care provider for routine care, to manage chronic and minor medical conditions, and to be referred for further care — as well as to be able to access care when needed. CIHI has released the indicators Visits to the Emergency Department for Conditions That Could Be Managed in Primary Care (In Person and Virtual) as indirect measures of primary and virtual primary care access.

Key findings

  • Across Canada, 15% of visits to the emergency department (ED) between April 2023 and March 2024 were for conditions that could potentially have been managed in primary care.
  • 9% of visits to the ED were for conditions that could potentially have been managed virtually in primary care — suggesting an opportunity to improve health care access using virtual care.
  • Those most likely to use the ED for primary care were young children, people who live in rural or remote areas, and people who reported not having access to primary care.
  • The number of patients visiting the ED for conditions that could be managed in primary care may signal inadequate access to quality primary care in the community.
  • Tackling primary care access alone won’t solve ED overcrowding — this is a multi-faceted issue that also reflects capacity and responsiveness concerns in other parts of the health care system.
  • These findings are consistent with survey data that shows many Canadians face challenges to primary care access.

Access to primary care

Learn more about primary care access in Canada and what the new indicators add to our understanding.

ED visits for primary care

Learn more about the new indicator Visits to the Emergency Department for Conditions That Could Be Managed in Primary Care.

Virtual primary care

Learn more about the new indicator Visits to the Emergency Department for Conditions That Could Be Managed Virtually in Primary Care.

Challenges in the ED

Learn about how primary care access does — and doesn’t — affect emergency department crowding, as well as what other factors contribute.

Featured material

Acknowledgements

CIHI would like to acknowledge and thank the expert advisory group for this report: 

  • Dr. Simon Berthelot, Emergency Physician, Associate Professor and Researcher, Département de médecine de famille et de médecine d’urgence, Université Laval 
  • Dr. Nicholas Myers, Medical Director, Primary Care, Alberta Health Services
  • Dr. Howard Ovens, Staff Emergency Physician and Chief Medical Strategy Officer, Sinai Health; Full Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine and Senior Fellow, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto
  • Dr. Kevin Samson, Family Physician, Ontario 
  • Stephen Weiss, Team Lead, Analytics, Primary Care Branch, Saskatchewan Ministry of Health

CIHI would also like to thank the many individuals and organizations across the country, including clinicians, researchers, policy experts and government representatives, who contributed to the development of these indicators. 

While CIHI gathered a wide range of feedback to inform indicator methodology and the content in this report, the content herein does not necessarily reflect the views of any individual or organization. 

Contact us

If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please send us an email.

hsp@cihi.ca

 
 

How to cite:

Canadian Institute for Health Information. Primary and virtual care access: Emergency department visits for primary care conditions. Accessed April 25, 2025.