The British Columbia Rx atlas, 2nd edition

Morgan, S, Cunningham, C, Hanley, G E and Mooney, D (2009) The British Columbia Rx atlas, 2nd edition. Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR), British Columbia.

Abstract

This 2nd edition of The British Columbia Rx Atlas details regional variations in prescription drug spending and use across 79 Local Health Areas (LHAs) in British Columbia (BC), Canada. To make “fair comparisons” across regions of the province, all analyses account for the age, sex, and health needs of residents within each LHA. This analysis is made possible by the availability of de-identified administrative datasets that describe the age, sex, health status, and medicine use of virtually all 4 million residents of BC. Together, these databases constitute one of the most comprehensive information resources of its kind in the world. We used advanced statistical techniques on the BC datasets, quantifying not only regional variations in spending but also the regional variations in factors that determine the extent of spending.