Dear AFHTO EDs, Board Chairs and Lead Clinicians,
Since the Ministry of Health’s release of the Call for Proposals last week, AFHTO has been taking note of the most common questions from members. To support you, we are providing a detailed FAQ below, based on the most frequently asked questions and clarifications requested by members.
The Need for Collaboration
- MOH recognizes the timelines for this first round of funding are ambitious. But government can’t afford to wait any longer to give Ontarians the care they need and deserve.
- As the PCAT mandate is to attach every person in Ontario to primary care, this is a multi-year funding process with additional opportunities to apply for funding. Round 2 of proposal intake and assessment is anticipated to launch in September 2025.
- PCAT encourages both Ontario Health Teams/Primary Care Networks and prospective proponents to collaborate with their local partners to put forward the best proposals that will meet the needs of their communities, both now and in the future. Prioritizing local collaboration over competition.
- Through the 2023 Expression of Interest, there were a number of proposals that demonstrated collaboration across different teams and primary care team models, and they agreed on a lead organization who would be the funding recipient on behalf of the collaborative. The lead organization is not meant to create a hierarchy within the partnership, but simply designate a fund holder that is responsible for sub-contracts with the other partners.
Can a hospital or an academic institution apply to receive funding?
- Any entity or organization that is currently or will be providing primary care in an interprofessional team-based model may apply for resources that will enable and prioritize net new ongoing attachment of people within their identified postal code(s) who do not have a regular primary care clinician including those on the Health Care Connect waitlist. In most cases those entities are or will be a FHT, a CHC, an NPLC, or an IPHCO.
- A recipient of interprofessional primary care team funding must be an established not-for-profit corporation. For example, a Family Health Team is a not-for-profit corporation that can be established through this process.
- While MOH recognizes that there are some interprofessional primary care teams who are affiliated with hospitals or academic institutions, hospitals and/or academic institutions cannot be the funding recipient.
Attachment
- The definition of attachment is a documented and ongoing relationship with an individual physician, physician group, or a nurse practitioner working in a publicly funded system. The documentation could be through formal registration or signed enrolment and consent form.
- Through this targeted call for proposals, new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams approved for funding will be expected to work toward achieving the attachment of all individuals living in their communities, designated by postal codes, to their interprofessional primary care team. This includes attaching people on the Health Care Connect waitlist located in those communities.
- For family physicians and nurse practitioners working in an interprofessional primary care team with other health care professionals who are working to their full scope of practice can help support their ability to provide comprehensive, high-quality care and increase their capacity to attach more patients. Teams should consider how their proposal will enable attachment to a most responsible clinician (family doctor or nurse practitioner).
Evaluation Criteria
Applicants will be evaluated and assessed using the following three strategic priorities:
Primary care attachment:
- Prioritizing net new ongoing attachment of people within identified postal codes who do not have a regular primary care clinician, including those on the Health Care Connect waitlist. The evaluation will give priority to proposals with a plan to attach the highest possible proportion of unattached people in their postal codes.
Readiness to implement:
- Demonstrating the ability to be operational and beginning to attach people to a primary care provider by summer 2025. This can include demonstrating that your proposed new or expanded team can leverage infrastructure, human resources and local partnerships to quickly meet the communities’ attachment needs.
The ability to meet the following primary care principles over time:
- Province-wide: Working towards attaching 100% of people within their postal codes, either independently or in collaboration with other primary care practices, to a family physician, physician group, or a primary care nurse practitioner. This includes attaching people on the Health Care Connect waitlist.
- Connected: Deliver interdisciplinary, team-based primary care with other professionals who work together to their full scope to deliver comprehensive primary care services and support the wellbeing of the health care team. Collaborate with local OHTs and their PCNs to establish partnerships with primary care organizations, as well as health, community, and social services to enable the integrated planning and delivery of primary care.
- Convenient: Ensure timely access to primary care, including through the availability of in-person and virtual care options and the provision of after-hours services.
- Digitally Integrated: Ensure that both patients and clinicians have access to digital tools and services, as they become available, that enable easy navigation of the primary care system.
- Equitable: Deliver culturally and linguistically responsive and safe care that meets the needs of the local population, including underserved communities.
- Responsive: Willingness to measure and use primary care metrics, including patient experience and outcome measures, for continuous quality improvement.
What will Round 2 / future calls for proposals look like?
- Future calls for proposals for interprofessional primary care team funding will support the government’s action plan that will build a primary care system that offers every person the opportunity to have a family doctor or primary care team based on postal code, no matter where they live.
- While it is anticipated that future calls for proposals will continue to prioritize geographic attachment and a data-driven approach, the Ministry of Health and Ontario Health welcomes feedback and looks forward to engaging with our partners on lessons learned from Round 1 to help inform future rounds.
AFHTO is here to support our members throughout this process. If you don’t know who to contact at your lead OHT or are having trouble getting connected, we can help facilitate that connection. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Also, a reminder: you do not need to be physically located in a high-priority FSA (postal code) to take part in an application. You can be a member of a different OHT and still be part of a proposal led by another OHT, as long as your team can serve patients in the identified high-priority FSA. If you can serve patients in the identified FSAs, you should reach out to the lead OHT for that FSA.
If you need support, please feel free to email me directly at michael.scarpitti@afhto.ca.
Sincerely,
Michael Scarpitti
Director Strategic Communication and Government Relations
AFHTO – Advancing Primary Care Teams