AFHTO Policy Positions

“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
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,
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
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
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
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
Population-based primary care is about effective management of the health of defined groups of people. It ensures all within this group are attached to a regular primary care provider and can access the appropriate care when they need it. The province’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Evidence tells us that, with a team-based approach to primary care, patients experience more timely access to care, better care coordination and improved management of their chronic diseases. At present, about 25-30% of Ontarians can access team-based primary care. The logical question is – how do
There is a compelling association between comprehensive primary care and system efficiency and effectiveness. The lifelong work of the late Barbara Starfield observed that an investment in primary care was associated with improved system quality, equity and efficiency (reduced cost)[i],[ii],[iii
Family Health Teams and Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics  have matured over the 5 – 9 years that each organization has been in existence. Contracts between MOHLTC and FHTs expire on March 31, 2016, with this comes the opportunity to develop a much more mature and meaningful approach to governing
800 Primary Care Providers meet in Toronto to share best practices and push for enhanced primary care. Toronto, ON (October 16, 2014): The Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO) called for the Wynne government to take quick action to implement one of its election commitments: a
AFHTO was invited to present to the Commission on Broader Public Sector Reform, chaired by economist Don Drummond and announced in the 2011 Ontario Budget speech last spring.  The Commission is to report in early 2012, in time to inform development of Government’s 2012-13 Budget, on its