Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan

Connecting Every Person in Ontario to Primary Care

January 2025
Connecting Every Person in Ontario to Primary Care
Mandate: 100% of people in Ontario are attached to a family doctor or a primary care nurse practitioner working in a
publicly funded team, where they receive ongoing, comprehensive and convenient care.

Primary Care System Secondary, Tertiary

Home Health Team Community Hospital

Person Family Social Medical Acute Care

Community
Physicians Workers Specialists Support
Family
Workers Tertiary Care
Community Public Health
Elders Nurse Partners
Practitioners Quaternary Care
Caregivers Pharmacists
Home Care Lab
Specialty Hospitals
Nurses Personal
Embedded
Support
Specialists Sub-Acute
Workers Long-Term
Allied Health Care & Rehab
Providers Addictions Care
& Mental Health Midwives
Complex Care

2
Primary Care: Right Care, Right Place, Right Time
+ Primary care is the model of care that supports first-contact, comprehensive, coordinated, convenient
and person-focused care.

* Health systems with robust primary care systems have better health outcomes, lower health care costs
and more equity.

» By providing care in the community, primary care reduces reliance on costly parts of the system such as
emergency departments and hospitals.

E— Impact of Primary Care: By The Numbers -~y

: Primary care visits are |
33% of the cost 36% fewer 29% more
of a visit to an emergency emergency visits when likely to be hospitalized
department (Ontario) connected to primary when poor access to
care (Quebec) primary care (Alberta)

3 Ontario @
Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan
• Ontario’s Primary Care Action Team, led by Dr. Jane Philpott, will implement a Primary Care Action Plan supported by
the government’s historic investment of $1.8 billion to connect two million more people to a publicly funded family
doctor or primary care team within four years, which will achieve the government’s goal of connecting everyone in the
province to a family doctor or primary care team.
• Primary care teams are made up of a family physician or nurse practitioner and other health care professionals such
as nurses, physician assistants, social workers, dietitians and more.
• The Action Plan will help implement a broad series of initiatives in collaboration with primary care leaders and health
system partners across three pillars:

• Connecting You to a Primary Care Team

• Making Primary Care More Connected and Convenient
• Supporting Primary Care Providers

• The action plan will draw on best-in-class models of primary care being delivered across the province to ensure that
no matter where you live in the province, you are connected to a primary care team.

• The goal is to build a primary care system that is comprehensive, convenient and connected for every single person
in Ontario.

4
Primary Care Team Successes
Through the Your Health plan, Ontario invested $110 million in primary care teams across the province,
helping to connect 328,000 more people to primary care close to home.
• Through a $2.2 million investment in primary care team funding, the Hamilton Family Health Team and partners
from across the Greater Hamilton Health Network Ontario Health Team have attached more than 6,000 people to
team-based primary care who did not have access previously. This work includes a number of initiatives including
‘Health Care at Eva Rothwell Centre’, a new primary health care clinic located at a grassroots community hub
which serves individuals and families living in poverty.
• Through an over $900,000 investment in primary care team funding, the Lakehead Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic
is increasing access and attachment to interprofessional primary care in Thunder Bay and surrounding area. In
partnership with local emergency medical services, primary care partners and the Noojmawing Sookatagaing
Ontario Health Team, they have attached approximately 700 additional people to team-based primary care. The
increased capacity in their clinic has been focusing on patients with congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, frailty and diabetes. They have also initiated an Infant and Child Wellness Program for children
0-5 years of age and mothers up to 12 months postpartum and a Breast Screening Program.
• With the support of $4.2 million in funding, the Midtown Kingston Health Home has attached over 1,200 people
from the surrounding postal codes to comprehensive, team-based primary care as of December 2024, and are
expecting to enroll up to 8,000 people. Soon after opening, the staff started calling people who had registered with
Health Care Connect to ask if they would like to register as a patient. “We’ve had a few that have cried on the
phone,” said Melissa Boivin, a registered practical nurse at KCHC who does intake calls for new patients. She spoke
with one who hadn’t had a regular primary care provider since 1992.
5
Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan Pillars
Ontario is investing over $1.8 billion to connect every person in Ontario to primary care.

Connecting You to a Making Primary Care More Supporting Primary

Primary Care Team Connected and Convenient Care Providers

• Create and expand 305 additional • Modernize Health Care Connect to • Introduce targeted strategies to
teams to attach approximately improve the user and provider recruit and retain the workforce
2 million people to primary care. experience, with the goal of establishing needed to support primary care
a wait time target of no more than providers and teams, including family
• Invest more than $235 million in
12 months. doctors, nurse practitioners and other
2025-26 to establish and expand 80 allied health professionals.
additional primary care teams across • Attach everyone (as of January 1, 2025)
the province, attaching 300,000 more on the Health Care Connect waitlist to • Address administrative burden with
people to primary care this year. a primary care team by Spring 2026. digital tools, targeted recruitment and
retention strategies for northern and
• Establish standards for what every • Enhance digital tools for providers and rural communities and ensure all of
Ontarian can expect when accessing patients, improving patient navigation, Ontario’s highly qualified health care
primary care services. reducing administrative burden and professionals can work to their full
• Provide regular public updates improving the referral process. scope of practice.
on progress and performance in • Leverage Health811 to view online • Add and expand community-based
achieving the Primary Care Action health records, book an appointment primary care teaching clinics in
Team’s mandate. with their primary care provider and collaboration with academic
discover care options. institutions and other partners.
• Set regular performance indicators
of primary care teams.
6
Key Performance Indicators: Measuring Progress
100% of the people of Ontario
have ongoing attachment to a
primary care provider
KPI: % of Ontarians who have
Working in a publicly funded ongoing connection to primary care
interdisciplinary team
KPI: % of primary care providers who
work in interdisciplinary teams Where they have timely access
to comprehensive care
KPI: % of Ontarians who can get an
appointment same day or next day
That is connected into the when needed
broader health system
KPI: % of Ontarians who can access
their health records online All Ontarians currently on
health care connect waitlist
are connected to primary care
KPI: % of Ontarians cleared from
Health Care Connect waitlist

7
Implementation Timelines
Closing the Gap
2 million more people will be newly
attached to primary care by 2029.

25/26 26/27 27/28 28/29 Total

New people
300,000 +500,000 +600,000 +600,000 2,000,000
attached
New primary care
76 +73 +78 +78 305
teams added

Regular public reporting on milestones and key performance indicators

Ongoing stakeholder collaboration and feedback to inform implementation