Registration now open for the AFHTO 2016 Conference! Leading primary care to strengthen a population-focuses health system October 17 & 18, 2016 – Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto, Ontario

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (ministry) has announced the launch of the fourth annual Minister’s Medal Honouring Excellence in Health Quality and Safety. This annual recognition program aims to honour exceptional work across the health system and showcase successes in cross-sector collaboration of health system partners to deliver high-quality, patient-centred care across the continuum.

Calling all AFHTO Members to shine a light on your team’s accomplishments. Nominate an outstanding team or individual for a “Bright Lights” Award by July 12, 2016

The “Bright Lights” Awards recognize leadership, outstanding work and significant progress being made to improve the value delivered by interprofessional primary care teams across Ontario. This year, ALL award recipients will also receive an education grant valued at $3,000. “Bright Lights” Award recipients are:

To the leaders of AFHTO’s member organizations: As AFHTO’s President, I’m writing to let you know our board of directors is launching the search for its next CEO.

Thank you to everyone who submitted an abstract for concurrent session and poster presentations at the AFHTO 2016 Conference. The working groups have now reviewed all submissions and a notification e-mail has been sent to each contact person. If you are part of a group that has prepared an abstract, please ensure your group contact has received an email including the words “AFHTO 2016 Conference” in the subject on June 3^rd 2016.

Authors: Judith Belle Brown, PhD, Bridget L. Ryan, PhD, Cathy Thorpe, MA Published in CMAJ Open, click here for the full article.

Government has taken a key step to move forward with its proposal for health care – the Patients First Act has been tabled in the legislature today. This legislation brings together all of the key health system players at a local level to focus on the unique health needs of people in communities across the province.

“Coordinating patient care is a fundamental role of primary care, which is the foundation of Ontario’s complex health system… However, patients do not always move through the system as smoothly as they could.”

We assert the role of primary care providers to lead care coordination.

The Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO) endorses and embraces this position statement adopted with our colleagues in the Ontario Primary Care Council in November 2015.  Primary care providers work to ensure access to interprofessional care for patients and identify a single point of contact to help patients and families navigate