Tectonic shifts: rebuilding primary care in a new world

The AFHTO 2020 Conference program is built around 5 core themes.

Concurrent Theme Descriptions

Download a printable PDF of the theme descriptions here.

1. Mental health and addiction support in primary care
2. Integrating digital health and virtual care
3. Integrated care and community responses
4. Public health and primary care
5. Addressing social determinants of health

1. Mental health and addiction support in primary care

Mental health is health. This seems self-evident but society at large hasn’t always treated it as such and destigmatization is an ongoing concern.  The need for increased mental health and addiction support existed prior to COVID-19, and now that wave may become a tsunami. How do we ensure our patients and communities get the help they need?

Topics of interest include:

• Increasing access to MHA support at the population level
• Supporting Mental Health Promotion & Prevention (including support for Children and Youth)
• The other pandemic

2. Integrating digital health and virtual care

Virtual care has been a reality for years but the push to increase access and integrate digital health has been halting and at times sporadic. This changed with COVID-19 and now it’s an essential part of primary care. But challenges and barriers remain. How can primary care teams and partners address them in a meaningful way without losing momentum?

Topics of interest include:

• The promise of virtual care as a normalised component of clinical practice
• How digital health has improved care, especially in the rural and remote communities
• How to address challenges at the policy and system level
• The patient experience with virtual care

3. Integrated care and community responses

Networks, partnerships, and other forms of collaboration are essential to Ontario’s healthcare system. But the very nature of these partnerships impacts how effective their efforts are. What models and levels of integration are truly impactful, and which detract from their response?

Topics of interest include:

• Innovative ways networks have responded to COVID-19
• Proto OHTs- promising or perishing?

4. Public health and primary care

Infection control. Workplace health and safety. The seemingly never-ending stream of updates that need to be incorporated as we learn even more about the virus. COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of public health and primary care collaboration, but this need existed prior to the pandemic. With so much at stake, how do we work together to safeguard Ontarians’ lives now and in the future?

Topics of interest include how to:

• Collaboration with data transparency
• Community needs assessment

5. Addressing social determinants of health

As members of their communities, primary health care teams need to understand and be accountable to them in order to fully address their patients’ needs. Teams can only do this if they take a holistic approach to care, striving to understand their patients’ environments and multiple realities that can affect their lives.

Topics of interest include:

• Role of social prescribing and addressing equity when providing care (wholistic health)
• Indigenous health
• Black lives matter – addressing privilege in primary care
• Supporting the needs of marginalised communities
• Resistance to demographic data and its impact