Prescriptions are for more than just drugs
Prescriptions are for more than just drugs. Ontario Health Teams should use ‘social prescribing’ to improve our health and wellbeing.
Healthy Debate opinion piece by Kate Mulligan and Kavita Mehta
Healthy Debate opinion piece by Kate Mulligan and Kavita Mehta
This article examines three family health teams (FHTs) in different Ontario communities that exemplify the features of a Patient's Medical Home (PMH), a vision developed by the College of Family Physicians of Canada. With PMH supports and foundations in place, these FHTs deliver high-quality care enabled by strong PMH functions: accessible, comprehensive, patient- and family-centred continuous care that is responsive to a community's unique needs. Adhering to PMH principles not only improves patient experience, health outcomes and provider satisfaction but also leads to fewer unnecessary hospital admissions and emergency room visits – system savings and better use of public resources.
Featured FHTs:
Marathon FHT's High-Yield Approach to Risk Mitigation and Safety (HARMS): A program for safer opioid prescribing through systematic risk stratification and urine drug testing
Markham FHT's Eating Disorders Bridge Program
Peterborough FHT: New services improve primary care access to an underserviced region
Authors