Optimizing value of and access to team-based primary care

Evidence tells us that, with a team-based approach to primary care, patients experience more timely access to care, better care coordination and improved management of their chronic diseases. At present, about 25-30% of Ontarians can access team-based primary care. The logical question is – how do we expand access to primary care teams and get the best value from this investment?

Valuing comprehensive primary care: The Starfield Principles

There is a compelling association between comprehensive primary care and system efficiency and effectiveness. The lifelong work of the late Barbara Starfield observed that an investment in primary care was associated with improved system quality, equity and efficiency (reduced cost)[i],[ii],[iii] ,[iv]. In British Columbia this efficiency was quantified by Marcus Hollander.

Governance principles for primary care teams

Family Health Teams and Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics  have matured over the 5 – 9 years that each organization has been in existence. Contracts between MOHLTC and FHTs expire on March 31, 2016, with this comes the opportunity to develop a much more mature and meaningful approach to governing these organizations, from the Ministry and through to the board of each FHT and NPLC, to deliver high-quality primary care and improve the health of people in the communities served.

AFHTO calls for quick action on government’s Primary Care Guarantee

800 Primary Care Providers meet in Toronto to share best practices and push for enhanced primary care.

Toronto, ON (October 16, 2014): The Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO) called for the Wynne government to take quick action to implement one of its election commitments: a guarantee that every Ontarian has access to primary care. “The evidence is in.

AFHTO’s submission to Drummond Commission on Broader Public Sector Reform

AFHTO was invited to present to the Commission on Broader Public Sector Reform, chaired by economist Don Drummond and announced in the 2011 Ontario Budget speech last spring.  The Commission is to report in early 2012, in time to inform development of Government’s 2012-13 Budget, on its mandate to examine long-term, fundamental changes to the way government works including: