Keeping the front door open: ensuring access to primary care for all in Canada

Primary care in Canada is in crisis;4.6 million people did not have a regular family physician or primary care clinician before the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation is getting worse. Emerging evidence suggests that if primary care delivery does not change, a larger family physician workforce would be needed to serve the current population, let alone a growing and aging one. Interprofessional team-based care, coupled with payment reform, has the potential to improve primary care capacity, access and outcomes for patients, and provider well-being. Bold reforms could include neighborhood-based clinics that employ physicians and have accountability to the local population and regionally organized after-hours care that would obviate the need for walk-in clinics and allow for better use of resources.