What is the Purpose/Goal of Portrait?
Portrait is an educational program to help primary care prescribers review their own prescribing, review evidence and consider possible improvements in their prescribing.
How will my Privacy be protected?
Your prescribing data on your personal Portrait is identified only by a unique alphanumerical code. The Portrait will be in a separate inner envelope from the one used to mail the Portrait to you. Our mailing process has different people sealing the Portrait into the inner envelope from those who then put the sealed envelope into the mailing envelope. All files are maintained confidentially in password-protected computers and none of our study reports will have any individual names in them.
How can I sign up for Portrait?
You don’t have to sign up for Portrait. Individual portraits will be sent to every family doctor in BC if they have prescribed more than 25 times in the previous year. Group Portraits will be distributed through a separate process with a partner organization, like your local Division of Family Practice.
You will continue to receive Portrait materials by default unless you indicate that you do not want to participate in Portrait https//tinyurl.com/portrait-survey.
I signed up for email but received a paper version of my Portrait
If you have indicated a preference to receive your Portrait via a secure email link, you will eventually receive your Portrait electronically. We are still finalizing our methods to distribute Portraits securely, until that process is complete, we will send you paper Portraits.
Can I receive Portrait by email?
Yes. Sign up online at https//tinyurl.com/portrait-survey.
Where does Portrait get my prescribing data from?
The BC Ministry of Health provides us with PharmaNet, Medical Services Plan (MSP) and hospital data to produce prescribing portraits. The Portrait project underwent a stringent Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) which ensures that the Portrait premises, technology and materials production are compliant with the Ministry of Health’s privacy standards.
Do you share my results with other groups, like the College of Physicians and Surgeons?
We do not share individual prescribing patterns with anyone else but you. We maintain absolute 100% confidentiality. There is no tracking nor reporting of individual prescribing patterns to outside groups.
I am a Nurse Practitioner who prescribes, will I be receiving a Portrait?
Not currently, but we are working with the BC College of Nursing Professionals on the logistics of providing Portraits to NPs and are hopeful that it will be ready for the delayed mailing.
How did you get my address?
Portrait uses the publicly available CPSBC mailing addresses for General Practitioners.
Does every BC physician get sent a personal prescribing Portrait?
To receive a Portrait mailing, prescribers must meet three criteria, including: writing more than 25 prescriptions (for any drug) in the last year; be defined as a General Practitioner by the BC Medical Services Plan; and have an active license to practice in BC.
How many primary care prescribers take part in Portrait?
There are approximately 6500 general practitioners in BC.
What if I do not want to participate in Portrait?
You may opt out from all future Portrait at https//tinyurl.com/portrait-survey.
How often are Portraits produced?
Two portraits will be produced per fiscal year (April 1st to March 31st).
Why and how are prescribers divided into the Early or Delayed Group?
To evaluate the portraits, BC communities similar in size and demographics are divided into two matched groups. Each group is randomly assigned as either Early or Delayed. For each intervention, physicians in the Early Group (about half of all BC GPs) receive the initial materials. After approximately three months, the Delayed group receives the materials. This delay in distribution allows for proper impact assessment of the program, while ensuring that the materials are eventually available to all physicians.
What do the early and delayed groups mean?
For project evaluation purposes, Portraits are distributed using a “designed delay process”. This means that we will mail Portraits to qualifying prescribers in the Early Group and after a delay of approximately 3-12 months to those who are in the Delayed Group. This design allows us to see if changes in prescribing occur, and also see if there are any alternative explanations for changes to behaviour e.g. another quality program happening at the same time.
I am unsure that the comparator used on Portrait applies to me.
Portrait currently uses a single comparator for all prescribers. We realize that there is a wide variety of family medicine practice styles in BC, where some practices are very specialized, and some general. Over time we will refine the portraits so they are more useful across a variety of practice styles and demographic differences. Your feedback is welcome to us if you believe that you have specific practice characteristics that might explain your portrait.
