Ontario On Track to Hit Key Primary Care Milestone

This week, the Ontario government is marking important progress in its plan to connect everyone in the province to primary care or a family doctor. As a first step in its $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan, the province committed to connect the 235,000 people that were on the Health Care Connect waitlist as of January 1, 2025 to a family doctor or primary care team by spring 2026. As of this week, that initial waitlist has been reduced by half, with the province on track to hit its initial commitment next spring.

“By reducing the Health Care Connect waitlist, our government is keeping our commitment to connect everyone in Ontario to primary care,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “We’re going to continue delivering record investments and improvements to Ontario’s health-care system so we can connect everyone in the province to primary care by 2029.”

HCC helps connect Ontarians who do not have a family doctor, nurse practitioner or primary care team to a primary care clinician. Partners like Ontario Health Teams, their Primary Care Networks and Ontario Health atHome Care Connectors are working together to match people on the list with available primary care in their community.

“Reducing the Health Care Connect waitlist from January 1 by over 50 per cent is a major milestone and demonstrates tangible progress in connecting more people to ongoing care,” said Dr. Jane Philpott, Chair of the province’s Primary Care Action Team. “This reflects the dedication of clinicians and teams across the province who are working tirelessly to attach patients and expand access to comprehensive, connected and convenient care.”

Unprecedented investments and rapid action taken by the Ontario government to strengthen the health-care system have been crucial in this reduction in the HCC waitlist over the past 10 months.

In June, the government announced a $235 million investment, which funded over 130 new and expanded primary care teams to connect more than 300,000 people to primary care, some of which have already begun accepting new patients. The government also recently announced $250 million in funding that will add approximately 75 new and expanded teams to help 500,000 Ontarians connect to primary care. The new and expanded teams are prioritizing people on the HCC waitlist as they attach new patients to care and are helping fulfill the province’s initial commitment as well as reducing the overall waitlist.

Starting this year, the province is also investing more than $22 million over two years to support Ontario Health Teams and their Primary Care Networks in attaching patients to care, such as getting patients up-to-date with medication reviews, cancer screening and gathering up-to-date medical history, ensuring high-quality care can be delivered from day one.

Through Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the Ontario government continues to take bold and decisive action to grow the province’s highly skilled health-care workforce and ensure people and their families have access to high-quality care, closer to home, for generations to come.

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