Strengthening Ontario’s Foundation for Primary Care Teams
AFHTO is working alongside members, partner organizations, Ontario Health, and the Ministry of Health to stabilize, strengthen, and expand Ontario’s primary care system – striving to ensure that every Ontarian is connected to the care they need and deserve.
Team-based primary care is the most powerful lever Ontario has in meeting the objective of its Primary Care Action Plan to connect two million more people to a publicly funded family doctor or primary care team by 2029.
Our Strategic Priorities
As articulated in AFHTO’s 2024-2027 strategic plan, our advocacy priorities are to:
- Lead the transformation and advancement of primary care with our partners.
- Advance a health human resource strategy with provincial partners and members that addresses the wage gap in primary and community care.
- Deepen partnerships in primary care to enhance advocacy efforts that support the sustainability and strength of team-based primary care.
- Build and demonstrate the value of team-based primary care through evidence, data, and outcomes to support advocacy efforts.
- Empower members to participate in effective advocacy within the communities they serve.
OUR ASKS
Ontario’s primary care teams are eager to grow – but critical system pressures challenge the sustainability of expansion. AFHTO is focused on addressing three urgent priorities to ensure success.
Priority 1: Immediately Release the Remaining $115M in Committed Workforce Funding
Ontario has committed to expanding attachment capacity for 2 million more Ontarians, effectively adding a second story to the primary care system. But you cannot build up without first reinforcing the foundation. The 12 million patients already attached depend on a stable, well-staffed team-based infrastructure that is currently at risk. The $115M in workforce funding supports the “invisible team” – nurses, social workers, dietitians, and other professionals who enable physicians and NPs to practice at full scope and safely manage larger patient panels. This interdisciplinary infrastructure is what allows family physicians and nurse practitioners to attach more patients.
The Impact:
- Implement retention measures to prevent further attrition of essential workforce.
- Offer competitive recruitment packages to address current vacancies.
- Stabilize staffing before the next wave of team expansions.
- Ensure family physicians and nurse practitioners can practice at the top of their scope by configuring team members to maximize efficiency and effectiveness – directly increasing attachment capacity per clinician.
Priority 2: Invest $430M Over 5 Years to Close the Structural Compensation Gap
The 2025 funding provided for recruitment and retention was a 2.7% increase when it has been more than five years since an increase was received. There remains a persistent 15-30% structural wage gap that must be addressed to stem the tide of staff turnover and burnout. This investment will align primary care compensation with market rates, attract family physicians, nurse practitioners, and allied health professionals into team-based practice where attachment capacity is highest, and enable new teams to become operational quickly and sustainably.
The Impact:
- Aligns wages with market rates, improving recruitment and retention.
- Attracts more physicians and NPs into high-capacity team-based care.
- Expands access to preventive and chronic disease management.
- Reduces avoidable emergency visits through strengthened team capacity.
- Creates predictable wage progression essential for long-term workforce planning.
Priority 3: Remove Policy Barriers to Increase System Efficiency and Modernize Governance Structures
This includes formalizing AFHTO as the government’s primary consultation partner for primary care team policy, in strengthening primary care governance, and mandating equal primary care representation on Ontario Health Team boards. AFHTO also supports policy solutions like global budgets that improve efficiency and flexibility and allow teams to respond to local conditions. These measures cost nothing yet significantly improve implementation, uptake, and alignment across the system.
The Impact:
- Ensures primary care expertise guides provincial and OHT-level decisions.
- Strengthens community voice on team boards.
- Enables teams to manage resources flexibly through global budgets.
- Accelerates recruitment and operations by removing administrative delays.
- Unlocks faster clinic expansion through streamlined capital approvals.
AFHTO Participation in Pre-Budget Submissions
As part of AFHTO’s ongoing advocacy, we have collaborated with other organizations in the primary care and community health sectors to develop joint pre-budget submissions with focused asks. Read more here:
Our Role as a Trusted Partner
Ontario needs the right partner to delivery primary care transformation. AFHTO provides a voice for primary care teams, amplifying the impact of their work and ensuring that the needs of their staff and their patients are heard by policymakers. Learn why AFHTO is uniquely positioned to lead this work.