PARTNER WITH US
The Primary Care Action Plan sets out strong strategic and operational direction. With unmatched reach, sector insight, and implementation expertise, we support government and system partners in building the strong, stable, team-based primary care system Ontarians deserve.
PARTNER WITH US
The Primary Care Action Plan sets out strong strategic and operational direction. With unmatched reach, sector insight, and implementation expertise, we support government and system partners in building the strong, stable, team-based primary care system Ontarians deserve.
A Province-Wide Network That Cares
Ontario has the right goal - AFHTO is the partner positioned to deliver it.
One in four Ontarians receives care at an AFHTO member organization. Our 189 member teams serve more than 3.6 million Ontarians, with an additional 400,000 unattached patients relying on our networks for care.
AFHTO represents the largest, most sophisticated team-based primary care infrastructure in Ontario. Our workforce includes:
Family
Physicians
Practitioners
Professionals
Your Knowledge Broker
AFHTO is not just an advocacy body – we are do-ers. We bring together our teams through one unified voice of the sector and help the government understand frontline realities.
On-the-Ground Insights
We bring direct, real-time feedback from teams across the province – what’s working, what’s not, and where bottlenecks are emerging – translated into digestible and actionable next steps.
Early Indication System
We identify risks before they have the opportunity to build up, helping the system and key decision makers avoid reactive responses, lead with a future-focus, and keep positive momentum.
Implementation Expertise
Our members have decades of experience developing, growing, and improving team-based care models across rural, urban, and remote settings.
When the province needs to know how a policy will play out in real life, AFHTO is the partner with the answers, and we can mobilize teams quickly when the system needs to respond.
Building Skills for Ontario’s Future
Strong governance and leadership are essential for sustainable primary care. AFHTO continues to strengthen the system through our:
Governance & Leadership Program
Advocacy School
Quality Improvement Program
Strong Research Partnerships
Data to Decisions Initiative
We are preparing the next generation of primary care leaders – ensuring that transformation sticks.
Our Partnerships
Ontario has a historic opportunity to transform primary care. AFHTO brings the expertise, and leadership needed to ensure that transformation succeeds – and we’re ready to partner.
Primary Care Collaborative
AFHTO continues to play a leading role in the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC), which recently confirmed updated terms of reference to strengthen coordination and collective influence. The PCC serves as a unified voice to advance equitable, person-centred primary care in Ontario by addressing systemic barriers that prevent primary care from being the true foundation of the health system. Together with our partners we engage regularly with policymakers at the Ministry of Health, Ontario Health, regional leads, and the Primary Care Action Team.
Through this collaboration, we have provided direct input on expansion efforts to increase attachment, pressed for stronger resourcing, and advanced a cohesive vision for primary care transformation that reflects the evolving needs of patients, providers, and communities across the province.
OurCare
AFHTO is proud to sit on the Ontario Advisory Committee for the OurCare. Over 16 months, between September 2022 and December 2023, OurCare engaged nearly 10,000 people about their experiences with primary care and their values, ideas, and hopes for the future and improvement of that care.
The conversation placed special emphasis on engaging people who have the greatest needs of care, face the greatest barriers to accessing care, and are most likely to be excluded from policy-making decisions about primary care.
Through this work, OurCare released a final report, as well as a new set of recommended standards, coined “
Through this collaboration, we have provided direct input on expansion efforts to increase attachment, pressed for stronger resourcing, and advanced a cohesive vision for primary care transformation that reflects the evolving needs of patients, providers, and communities across the province.
RESEARCH
This year marked the final year of our three-year research partnership with the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the Section on General and Family Practice to collectively advance the primary care team research agenda. Under Dr. Monica Aggarwal’s leadership, the collaboration delivered significant outputs, including two major publications solidifying the evidence base for strengthening primary care systems in Canada. Download them today!