Dear AFHTO Members,
On behalf of the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, I would like to share our 2024 prebudget submission with you.
As you know, AFHTO envisions a health care system where every Ontarian will have access to high-quality, comprehensive, cost effective, integrated interprofessional primary care, leading to better health outcomes for patients and the communities in which they live while reducing the burden on hospitals and emergency departments across the province. To support this, we are proposing five recommendations that will be essential to delivering care to Ontarians. On January 30th, 2024, AFHTO submitted our recommendations to the government for their 2024 budget.
AFHTO’s five recommendations:
1.Further invest in the expansion of interprofessional primary care teams in Ontario.
- AFHTO recognizes the commitment this government has made to support interprofessional primary care, including the previously announced commitment of $30 million per year for two years to expand and enhance interprofessional care teams.
- AFHTO is calling on the government to triple this investment from $30 million to $90 million in the 2024 budget to enable more team-based care in Ontario.
2.Address the health human resource (HHR) crisis in primary and community care through the investment of $500M annually in the community sector over the next five years.
- AFHTO is calling on the government to work with community health care partners to develop a comprehensive HHR strategy now. As part of this, we are asking that the government work towards reducing the wage gap between primary and community care and the rest of the health care system.
- With our community partners we would like to work with the government to invest over $500 million annually in the community health sector over the next five years to support wage equity. This should be supplemented with an annual increment of 2.9% per year to account for inflation.
3.Support the implementation of primary care networks.
- AFHTO is appreciative of the government’s recent investment of $9.2 million to implement improvements to patient care in OHTs, including supporting the establishment of PCNs. We recommend that the Ontario government prioritize funding from this investment to support the expansion and sustainability of PCNs, so this additional responsibility does not fall solely on our members.
- We ask that the Ministry of Health engage with AFHTO in the development of guidelines and future policies related to PCNs.
4.Invest in the digital health of primary care.
- As healthcare becomes more digital, it’s essential to support primary care teams in two key areas: investing in digital tools for better patient care and providing resources for cybersecurity to keep patient information safe. This dual investment will not only improve healthcare but also protect the privacy and security of patients’ sensitive medical data.
5.Embed and connect mental health and addictions services in primary care teams.
- Mental health and addictions services should be better connected to primary care for maximum effectiveness, offering patients a single point of contact throughout their healthcare journey and ensuring seamless transitions in care.
In addition to developing AFHTO’s prebudget submission, we also recently collaborated with our partners through the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC) to develop joint recommendations. These recommendations align with AFHTO’s core values and were submitted to the government on January 12th, 2024. The PCC prebudget submission can be found below.
We look forward to continuing to advocate on behalf of our members on these and other critical recommendations.
AFHTO’s 2024 Pre-Budget submission can be read here.
The 2024 PCC Pre-Budget submission can be read here.
Sincerely,
Leslie Sorensen, CEO