Strengthening mental healthcare delivery in primary care

The OMA and the Primary Care Collaborative have released a joint policy paper with recommendations to strengthen mental healthcare delivery in primary care.

The rate of new mental health and addiction diagnoses is increasing, exacerbated by the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. Approximately three-quarters of Canadians rely on their primary care provider to address their mental health needs, but there are longstanding system gaps that must be addressed to enhance the ability of primary care doctors to deliver mental health care.

AFHTO's 2022 Pre-Budget Submission

On February 10, AFHTO submitted our recommendations to the government for their 2022 budget. Our 2022 pre-budget submission was done in collaboration with our five partners in the Primary Care Collaborative.

With primary care at the foundation, our submission lays out what is needed to help build a province where people can access better care, more integrated care, and more accessible and continuous care.

Our recommendations are broken into four sections:

1. Address the HHR crisis and system capacity

AFHTO's 2021 Pre-Budget Submission

AFHTO has submitted recommendations to the Ministry of Finance as part of the 2021 Ontario Pre-Budget Consultations. The submission is entitled "The Heart of Health Care: Delivering Better Primary Care for Ontarians."

This submission was done in collaboration with the Ontario College of Family Physicians, the OMA Section on General & Family Practice, and the Nurse Practitioners' Association of Ontario. 

Our recommendations are the following:

Recommendation 1:

AFHTO's recommendations to the OMA Negotiations Committee on Physician Services Agreement

AFHTO consulted with physician leaders to provide feedback for consideration in the development of recommendations to the OMA Negotiations Committee on the upcoming Physician Services Agreement. We submitted recommendations in  multiple areas on July 30, 2020, including:

AFHTO's recommendations to the Physician Services Committee

Originally posted Jul. 24, 2020. Updated Aug. 4, 2020

AFHTO consulted with physician leaders to provide feedback for consideration in the development of recommendations to the Physician Services Committee. We submitted recommendations in the following areas to the Ontario Medical Association Primary Care Working Group and the Ministry of Health on July 15, 2020:

1. Access and Quality Issues