Bits & Pieces: novel coronavirus updates, pre-budget submission & more

woman with box

Your Weekly News & Updates In This Issue   Novel coronavirus updates AFHTO’s 2020 pre-budget submission We’re on the move Members’ stories Shortening the diagnostic odyssey: rare disease in primary care, Feb. 12 Managing proton pump inhibitor use in older adults: tool Eliminating red and white cards posters Upcoming events on Advance Care Planning and […]

AFHTO’s 2020 Pre-Budget Submission

AFHTO submitted its recommendations to the Ministry of Finance as part of the 2020 Ontario Pre-Budget Consultations in early January. The submission is entitled “It Takes a Team: Interprofessional Primary Care as the Foundation of Health System Transformation.” Our recommendations are the following: 1. Increase access to interprofessional team-based primary care for Ontarians who need […]

AFHTO’s Submission on Bill 74: The People’s Health Care Act, 2019

On April 2 AFHTO presented its submission to the Standing Committee on Social Policy on Bill 74: The People’s Health Care Act, 2019. Our key recommendations are: 1. That Bill 74 require primary care to be part of an Ontario Health Team (OHT). It is also recommended that primary care teams be the lead of […]

AFHTO’s 2019 Pre-Budget Submission

AFHTO submitted its recommendations to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs as part of the 2019 Ontario Pre-Budget Consultations in January. Our key recommendations are: We need a health system that is truly integrated, one where patients don’t have to move from one part of the system to another part to get their […]

AFHTO’s recommendations re Bill 41, Patients First

“Moving care coordinators from CCACs to LHINs does not remove barriers, it just moves them from one bureaucracy to another. If primary care providers were supported to coordinate care, it would make a significant difference for the health of patients and their experience of care.” With this and other comments, AFHTO presented to the Standing […]

Introducing our new Strategic Plan!

AFHTO is pleased to share its 2017-2020 Strategic Plan. This plan builds on our experience which shows that team-based comprehensive primary care is delivering better health and better value to patients. In the last few years AFHTO and its members have worked hard in supporting, measuring, and promoting the value of well-integrated interprofessional primary care, and advocating for […]

Primary care recruitment and retention strategy for Ontario

Evidence from around the world, and Ontario, demonstrates that the introduction of primary care teams is providing patients with better care, at the best value. But one of interprofessional primary care’s biggest barriers is to attract and keep skilled providers. The key issue? Inability to offer competitive compensation to the non-physician health professionals and administrative […]

Primary care must lead care coordination

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 […]

AFHTO’s response to Patients First Discussion Paper

Click here to read AFHTO’s overall response to the ministry’s Patients First: A Proposal to Strengthen Patient-Centred Health Care in Ontario discussion paper, approved by the AFHTO board and submitted on March 3rd, 2016. An initial response was issued with a statement from Dr. Sean Blaine, AFHTO President and Clinical Lead, STAR Family Health Team […]

AFHTO’s initial response to Patients First Discussion Paper

On December 17, 2015, Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care released its discussion paper Patients First: A Proposal to Strengthen Patient-Centred Health Care in Ontario. On its release, AFHTO issued the statement below from Dr. Sean Blaine, AFHTO President and Clinical Lead, STAR Family Health Team in Stratford ON. This was published in various newspapers including […]