Connected Care, Stronger Communities: Advancing Primary Care for a Healthier Ontario
An outlook from the OCC Health Policy Council
Ontario is facing a primary care crisis. The number of Ontarians without a family doctor has risen from 1.8 million to 2.5 million since 2020i, giving the province the lowest registered nurse-to-population ratio in the countryii, alongside other pressures straining the system. The situation requires urgent, consistent, and strategic action.
A strong primary care system has been shown to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs by up to 33 per cent in Ontario.iii Quebec’s experience further highlights its value, with a 36 per cent reduction in emergency visits for patients with a primary care provider.iv
Through Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan, supported by a landmark $2.1 billion investment, the Government of Ontario is taking significant steps to address these challenges, aiming to connect two million residents to primary care. The plan focuses on expanding access, improving coordination and convenience, and supporting healthcare providers to ensure everyone in the province has a family doctor or care team.
Ontario is also expanding medical and nursing education by adding 160 new medical school seats and 295 residency positions, alongside opening new medical schools in Brampton and Vaughan. The government is investing more than $220 million in grants and accelerated programs to train and license more health professionals, particularly in underserved communities, while streamlining registration for nurses from other jurisdictions.
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) believes that building on these efforts through collaborative solutions will strengthen Ontario’s health system and economy. The following recommendations from the OCC’s Health Policy Council focus on three imperatives: expanding the health workforce, shifting care into communities, and using data to drive efficiency.
INVESTING IN OUR WORKFORCE
The rising demand for care exceeds the available health workforce, creating pressure on the system. While the government’s plan is to connect every Ontarian to a primary care network, some aspects of the regulatory framework prevent domestic and international health professionals (e.g., physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, medical technologists, dental assistants) and primary care leaders (e.g., nurse practitioners, specialists)
from working to their full capacity. Empowering these professionals to work to their full scope of practice is essential for addressing labour shortages, reducing workforce burnout, and improving access to care.
Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are an example of the benefits of an expanded scope of practice. These highly trained providers hold advanced degrees and form part of a workforce that is expanding by over 10 per cent annually. Many have underused subspecialties that could expand care capacity if supported by funding and policy changes. These include full diagnostic, prescribing, and referral services.
To unlock the full potential of interdisciplinary healthcare teams, Ontario needs flexible funding and compensation models and incentives to retain talent; this would enable providers to deliver and receive greater value from their expertise, while improving patient outcomes. Solutions could include updating provincial funding models and billing structures; providing resources, tools, and supports to communities with geographic and infrastructure barriers; and increasing seats in other core health professions to better support a diverse range of providers in delivering comprehensive care.
Spotlight: The KW4 OHT Integrated Care Team
The KW4 Integrated Care Team embeds geriatric specialists directly into primary care, creating a one-stop, multidisciplinary support system for older adults with complex needs. By coordinating medical, social, and caregiver supports in the community, this model has cut emergency department visits nearly in half, eased specialist waitlists, and delivered faster, more personalized care. Its approach supports Ontario’s ageing population, reduces avoidable hospital use, and ensures care plans are implemented seamlessly.
MOVING CARE CLOSER TO HOME
Patients benefit when care extends beyond hospitals and long-term care facilities into community, family, Indigenous, and virtual health teams. Proven integrated models (such as those offered through Baycrest Virtual Behavioural Medicine, GeriMedRisk, and the Alzheimer Society of Ontario) optimize the full scope of healthcare professionals, improving access, outcomes, and patient experience.
By continuing to expand team-based, virtual, and community-delivered care alongside sustainable funding, Ontario can improve patient outcomes, reduce pressure on hospitals, and deliver cost-effective, patient-centred care. This holds particularly true in rural, remote, northern, and Indigenous communities, where these models can greatly improve equity.
Spotlight: Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe’iyewigamig (WNHAC)
WNHAC delivers comprehensive primary health care to ten First Nations and urban Indigenous populations in northwestern Ontario, overcoming geographic barriers through a fully mobile care model. Health care providers, including NPs, diabetes clinicians, and community health nurses, regularly travel to each community, offering weekly NP clinics and monthly visits from other clinicians. WNHAC also integrates children’s oral health into primary care, providing preventative services to address historically high rates of surgical extractions. This mobile, community-based approach ensures consistent, culturally grounded access to essential primary care and oral health services for remote and underserved populations.
LEVERAGING DATA FOR IMPACT
Current and accessible health data across all health settings are essential to a world-class system. Integrated patient and population-level data can produce evidence-based insights into the health and social needs of communities, better informing administrators, policymakers, system planners, researchers, and analysts.v This can enable responsive, empowered, accessible, and equitable qualitative services that better match community and patient needs.
Ontario should enhance interoperability by expanding the Ontario Health Data Platform for broader system use, leveraging digital navigation tools to improve access, and collaborating with providers on a provincial data strategy that addresses equity and social determinants of health. The province should also publish health and program utilization data to increase transparency and inform decision-making. Innovating and scaling successful models can strengthen healthcare system resilience, focusing on long-term improvements over shortterm initiatives.
Spotlight: Ontario Health’s (previously Health Quality Ontario) Health Links initiative
Ontario Health’s Health Links initiative is a patient-centred program designed to improve care coordination for individuals with complex needs by collecting and analyzing standardized performance data across participating organizations. The tool enables real-time tracking of key indicators, such as care transitions, readmissions, and emergency department usage, while fostering cross-sector collaboration. By promoting data interoperability and consistent measurement, Health Links empowers health providers and policymakers to identify gaps, share best practices, and scale effective models across Ontario’s health system.
The OCC’s Health Policy Council, together with our broader membership, welcomes the opportunity to continue to work with the Ministry of Health and partner ministries to strengthen Ontario’s primary care system and economy. By advancing collaborative solutions, we can enhance access, improve health outcomes, and ensure communities across the province benefit from a resilient, patient-centred foundation of care for the future.
ABOUT THE ONTARIO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) is the indispensable partner of business and Canada’s largest, most influential provincial chamber. It is an independent, non-profit advocacy and member services organization representing a diverse network of 60,000 members. The OCC convenes, mobilizes and empowers businesses and local chambers in pursuit of its purpose: to bring inclusive and sustainable prosperity to Ontario’s businesses, workers, and communities.
i https://ontariofamilyphysicians.ca/news/new-data-shows-there-are-now-2-5-million-ontarians-without-a-familydoctor/#:~:text=The%20list%20of%20Ontarians%20without,alone%2C%20according%20to%20new%20data
ii https://rnao.ca/news/media-releases/cihi-data-reveals-critical-nursing-shortage-in-ontario
iii https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-primary-care-action-plan-january-2025
iv https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374204026_Does_attachment_to_a_family_physician_reduce_emergency_department_visits_A_difference-in-differences_analysis_of_Quebec’s_centralized_waiting_lists_for_unattached_patients#:~:text=Results%20After%20weighting%2C%20cohorts%20had,the%20rate%20of%20ED%20 utilization.&text=Content%20may%20be%20subject%20to%20copyright.&text=Content%20may%20be%20subject%20to%20copyright.,-Page%201/18&text=family%20physician%20through%20Quebec,waiting%20lists%20 for%20unattached%20patients.&text=negative%20binomial%20regression%20models,generalized%20estimating%20equations.&text=attached%2C%20compared%20to%20patients,lists%20during%20the%20study%20 period.&text=patients%20signi%EE%9A%A6cantly%20reduce,ate%20of%20ED%20utilization
v https://files.ontario.ca/moh-ohdc-ontario-health-data-council-report-en-2023-08-28.pdf