Chair's Message
An article in the Globe and Mail by Kelly Evans on February 15, 2015 raised concerns that the Ministry of Health in Ontario was backing away from the Family Health Team model of primary care delivery. In addition, the Ministry has recently put limitations on the entry of new family physicians into FHNs and FHOs except in priority areas and has limited the income stabilization program for new family physicians to those in underserviced areas only.
One has to be concerned about the message this is delivering to medical students and family medicine residents. Are they making the wrong choice in choosing a family medicine residency and career? Across the country family medicine training is mostly conducted in the interprofessional team-based model represented by the family health teams. Will this be available to the family physicians of the future?
Students and residents should be reassured, despite the above concerns, that family medicine is still an excellent career choice and there will be many opportunities for practice in interprofessional primary care teams. The Ministry of Health may be pausing and reevaluating because of the costs associated with this type of care delivery, but there is increasing evidence that this model of care is the best one for health promotion and chronic disease management, key components of our primary care system.
The Conference Board of Canada produced an evaluation of FHTs, (also referenced by the Globe and Mail article). This report showed steady improvement in several areas over baseline data. Patients of FHTs experienced a wider range of programs and services for chronic disease and health promotion. Patients of FHTs experienced increased ability to get same-day appointments. While the clinical outcomes in this study were limited, the FHT model did show improvement in cancer screening and diabetes care.
Interprofessional primary care teams need time to come together and practice as a real team, and time to introduce and refine programs and services. The early results, described above, are proving this point.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Health has to be impressed with the steady decline in unattached patients in this province due, in large extent, to the Family Health Team model. It would be wrong to change direction at this time, when the benefits of the primary care changes are starting to be realized.
As always, I welcome your feedback at Stephen.wetmore@schulich.uwo.ca
