Ontario to introduce patient privacy amendments
Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care aims to introduce amendments to the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) in the fall. If passed, these amendments would include making it mandatory to report breaches to the commissioner’s office; lifting the requirement that offences be prosecuted within six months of an alleged breach, and doubling fines […]
HQO Report: Patient experiences of care coordination and communication
April 15- AFHTO welcomes the release of “Experiencing Integrated Care: Ontarians’ views of health care coordination and communication”, Health Quality Ontario’s (HQO) report on patients’ experiences of their transitions between health care providers and the associated care coordination and communication. The report focuses mainly on patients’ experiences of transitions and communication between doctors, specialists and […]
Media coverage highlights value of team-based primary care
Recent media coverage about family health teams and team-based primary care as a whole have pointed to its value to patients in Ontario and the government’s intent to review primary health care models and balance healthcare spending. Total cost of care – Team-based care improving the bottom line AFHTO emphasizes that the real issue for […]
Primary care recommendations in Home and Community Care Report
Today the Ontario government announced “Ontario Endorses Expert Report on Home and Community Care” as it released Bringing Care Home, a report from the expert group on home and community care led by Dr. Gail Donner. The release stated, “This report will help inform the next steps in Ontario’s home care strategy which will be […]
“Health Care in a Time of Austerity” on TVO’s The Agenda
Feb. 25 – On The Agenda with Steve Paikin, Claudia Mariano, Nurse Practitioner at West Durham FHT and AFHTO Board Member, appeared on the show to discuss the need for increased support for recruitment & retention in primary care. The program, “Health Care in a Time of Austerity” focused on primary care reform in a time […]
Ensuring access to team-based primary care
AFHTO continues to give top priority to advocacy for increased funding to enable our members to recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver comprehensive team-based primary care. AFHTO members have been highly effective in meeting with their local MPPs to raise awareness and political pressure. AFHTO, together with our collaborators in interprofessional primary care […]
External evaluation report on family health teams is now available
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has released the report: An External Evaluation of the Family Health Teams (FHT) Initiative. It is a longitudinal study over the period from Dec. 2008 to November 2013, prepared by the Conference Board of Canada under contract to the ministry. AFHTO has prepared a summary of this 311-page […]
AFHTO calls for quick action on government’s Primary Care Guarantee
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 guarantee that every Ontarian has access to […]
AFHTO’s 2014 Annual Report to the Members is now available
The 2014 Annual Report gives insight into the progress of AFHTO members – family health teams and nurse practitioner-led clinics – collectively supported by their association, to move toward their shared vision. This is a vision where all Ontarians would have timely access to high-quality and comprehensive primary care, and that care is informed by […]
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Family Health Teams in Ontario
Ten years ago the concept of “Family Health Teams” was first announced. This anniversary follows a week in which two important studies have published evidence of the value of interprofessional collaboration in Ontario’s Family Health Teams, and in interprofessional primary care models across Canada. To mark this event, the Association of Family Health Teams of […]