Annual Report 2021 (Post-Pandemic Primary Care: Respond, Recover, Rebuild)

It has been a challenging 20 months, and primary care teams have been leaders.

Throughout this pandemic, teams adjusted to new circumstances and continued to provide comprehensive care while extending reach to support their communities. They were leaders in organizing assessment centres, conducting tests, and administering COVID-19 vaccines. They collaborated with their partners to help keep communities safe, while keeping their doors open to provide care to their patients and others who needed it most.

The Role of Social Workers in Interprofessional Primary Healthcare Teams: Study

Research paper published in HEALTHCARE POLICY Vol.16 No.1, 2020

Abstract

Background: In Ontario, Canada, social workers are employed in a number of primary healthcare (PHC) settings such as Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Family Health Teams (FHTs). However, many aspects of social work practice within PHC settings are unknown.

Offering Patients a Medical Home – Not a Hallway – and a Stronger Health System

Body

Healthcare Quarterly 22(3) October 2019

 

Abstract

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

  • Leanne Clarke, CEO, Ontario College of Family Physicians
  • Kavita Mehta, CEO, Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario.