Health Policy Trends: Team-based Primary Care

Canada’s social contract when it comes to healthcare reads something like: If you’re sick, the government will ensure you see a doctor; if you’re very sick, you’ll be cared for in a hospital. What if instead of waiting for an appointment with a doctor, a patient could see another member of the team who the doctor was coaching?

As Figure 1 shows, despite the universal access promised in our social contract (and the Canada Heath Act) one-in-five adults are unattached to a regular health provider – usually a family doctor. Longer and more dangerous wait times at hospital emergency departments are just some of the consequences of this diminished access to primary care.

In response, there has been significant public investment aimed at increasing the number of family doctors and changing the size and nature of the teams they lead. This includes adding seats to medical schools and tweaking payment models to counter physician burnout while improving access for patients.