1. Expanding access to team-based care
- Date: 2024-10-24
- Concurrent Session: Concurrent Session C
- Time: 4:45 – 5:15 pm
- Room:
- Style: Presentation (information provided to audience, with opportunity for audience to ask question)
- Focus: Practical (e.g. Presentation on how to implement programs and/or practices in the team environment)
- Target Audience: Leadership (ED, clinical lead, board chair, board member, etc.) Clinical providers
Learning Objectives:
Participants will learn:
- How to apply this knowledge practically to support their unattached community and employ appropriate technology, overhead and space without disrupting day-to-day business;
- How to promote the clinic in a clear and concise manner to ensure a populous schedule for primary care providers, specifically the physicians who rely on these appointments for payment (fee-for-service model)
- How to appraise the success of the clinic.
Summary/Abstract:
The PFHT Health Clinic initiative provides acute and episodic care to unattached patients residing in Peterborough city and county. The diminishing availability of primary care physicians or nurse practitioners is leading to the settlement of additional virtual care clinics owned by large corporations, which is a disconnect from the virtue of primary health care. While the PFHT Health Clinic does not replace the continuity of care found with one's primary care provider, it does provide unattached patients with the option of in-person care by a local clinician. The PFHT Health Clinic is redirecting people seeking non-urgent care from the local emergency department, which currently is the only other in-person option for Peterborough residents who do not have a family physician. The current government of Ontario is providing some investments in primary health care, yet this will not translate to all unattached patients being absorbed into a primary care provider’s practice. This clinic has the potential to showcase the value of primary care and healthcare providers that include family physicians, nurse practitioners, and registered practical nurses, all providing in-person care. The Peterborough FHT is using existing, yet limited, resources by utilizing existing exam rooms and expanding into MD direct billing services. This allows for the family physicians at PFHT Health Clinic to continue supporting their rostered patients while providing care to the unattached in our community.
Presenter:
- Mike VandenBroek Director of Operations Peterborough FHT
- Amber Brown Patient Services Supervisor/RPN Peterborough FHT
- Dr. Wendy Thomas, Family Physician