Table 1 Selected exemplar quotes for themes and subthemes

Theme 1: The importance of a continuous longitudinal relationship with their primary care provider

Sharing of experience

[Asked why they believed it was important to follow-up with their primary care provider] “Well I wanted to let him know about the procedure and what happened.” (1146, female CHF patient aged 73 years)

Personalized approach and relationship

“I think that the family doctor knows the patient better [than the specialist] because they've followed them for so long and they know all of their history and they know more about it.” (5064, daughter of female COPD patient aged 79 years)

Caring and reassurance

“She’s cheerful and gives me hope. She's also pretty concerned also.” (2114, male CHF patient aged 58 years)

Reinforcement and education

[Describing the follow-up visit with the primary care provider] “He saw the report and everything because he gets a report every time she goes in there, so he knew about the different medications that she was on and what tests were done while she was in hospital, he had results of all of that, so, we kind of reviewed all that, what was good and what wasn't and, uh, you know, who was coming in since she's been home, we went over all of that so it was good and informative.” (5064, daughter of female COPD patient aged 79 years)

Theme 2: The role of the primary care provider in coordination of care

Information transfer

“All of these specialists will contact with the family doc and that’s what I like about it. They’re all on the same page.” (2120, daughter of female CHF patient aged 80 years)

Siloed care

“Your GP is handicapped because he doesn’t have access to your system. I thought we were trying to consolidate and harmonize these information systems. It would help the GP do a much more effective job than depend on the patient to bring in a write up like “oops, I forgot my requisition.” The reliance on the patient and the family doctor is over the top and it doesn’t make sense.” (1124, female CHF patient aged 60 years)

Theme 3: Desire for individualized timeline for follow-up

“I don’t see why it needs to be sooner than that [two weeks] unless there’s a problem.” (1138, female CHF patient aged 66 years)

“Yeah, they said a week or two and I thought within a week the doctor might not see anything different because it’s just a week and so I thought we could do two weeks. I liked that, it’s nice the way they did that.” (2120, daughter of female CHF patient aged 80 years)

Theme 4: Participants self-triaging of symptoms when deciding when to seek emergency care

“Well, I see how he is. I get that feeling that he needs to go to the hospital. I get a feeling of it, how he feels or how he looks. And usually, he doesn’t like going to the hospital, I have to force him.” (2049, son of male COPD patient aged 87 years)

[Asked if the primary care provider could have prevented hospital admission] “No, nothing he could've done on God’s green earth.” (1146, female CHF patient aged 73 years)

“Whatever they’re doing my mom’s doing well to the standards of her heart, diabetes and this and that. They’re doing really good and she hasn’t been back [to hospital].” (2120, daughter of female CHF patient aged 80 years)