At a time when Ontario faces a growing crisis in primary care, the Ontario Medical Association’s new report,
Prescription for Ontario: Doctors’ Solutions for Immediate Action, highlights a proven solution: expanding access to team-based care. With over 2.2 million Ontarians without a family doctor, the call for more collaborative, integrated health care models has never been more urgent.
Team-based care not only improves patient outcomes but also helps alleviate the strain on physicians facing mounting administrative demands and burnout. Dr. Mekalai Kumanan, president of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, explains that when doctors are supported by a team of healthcare professionals, leverage technology and can reorganize their work, they can spend more time focusing on their patients.
Dr. Sundeep Banwatt, family physician and clinical director at CarePoint Health in Mississauga, understands firsthand how team-based care can improve patient health but also broaden the support a physician can provide.
“Team-based care is an important part of a patient’s needs for their health care, but it’s also integral in terms of the work I do as a family physician,” he said. “It allows me to affect other parts of (their) health that are not traditionally thought of as the medical part of health."
