Information
March 2003
Primary Health Care
Primary health care is the foundation of the health care system. When Canadians need health
care, most often they turn to front-line or primary health care services - visiting a family
physician or nurse practioner, calling telephone health information lines, seeing mental
health workers, or seeking advice from pharmacists.
Primary health care takes a holistic approach to service delivery, emphasizing health
promotion and the prevention of disease and illness, integrating a diverse range of health
care providers into a well-coordinated team, and fostering collaboration among these providers
to ensure the seamless flow of information from one organization to the next.
Primary health care features 24-hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week access to essential care; multi-disciplinary
provider teams offering services which meet the needs of rostered patients; and physician
remuneration for quality care, which focusses less on fee-for-service payments.
Primary health care is fast becoming the predominant way in which front-line services
are delivered to Canadians. Presently, examples of primary health care can be found only
in certain parts of the country, but jurisdictional authorities have taken notice of these
models, and the benefits to using their approach to service delivery. In fact, there is
growing consensus that family physicians, nurses, and other health professionals working
side-by-side as partners in a multi-disciplinary health provider team will result in better
health, improved access to services, more efficient use of resources, and greater satisfaction
for both patients and providers.
The 2003 Health Care Renewal Accord demonstrates a commitment by the federal and provincial
governments to use the multi-disciplinary team approach to provide all Canadians, wherever
they live, with access to an appropriate health care provider, 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week.
First Ministers also agreed to immediately accelerate primary health care initiatives and
to make significant annual progress so that citizens - at least 50% within 8 years - will
routinely receive needed care from multi-disciplinary primary health care organizations
or teams.
The primary health care reform elements outlined in the Accord build upon the First Ministers'
agreement in 2000. For instance, First Ministers renewed their commitment in 2000 to work
together, and in concert with health professionals, to improve primary health care and
its integration with other components of the health care system. Since that time, all governments
have taken measures to improve the quality, accessibility and sustainability of Canada's
public health care system and all have implemented important reforms.
Provinces and territories, and other health stakeholders, are also continuing their efforts
to implement transitional primary health care reform initiatives, which in many cases began
in September 2000, when the Government of Canada established the $800-million Primary Health
Care Transition Fund.
Primary Health Care Transition Fund
The Primary Health Care Transition Fund does not support existing programs and services.
Rather, it was designed to support the efforts of provinces and territories to develop
and implement transitional primary health care reform initiatives in their respective jurisdictions,
and to enable governments and other health stakeholders to address overarching primary
health care issues that are common nationally or across two or more jurisdictions. For
example, activities related to collaborative care must be addressed before multi-disciplinary
teams can be put in place across Canada.
The Fund is unique in its ability to support initiatives undertaken by more than one jurisdiction,
and to fund collaborative activities developed by federal, provincial, and territorial
governments and other health stakeholders.
The Fund has five envelopes:
- Provincial/Territorial Envelope - allocated on a per capita basis
to provincial and territorial governments. Funding is intended to support time-limited,
transitional costs of broader, large-scale reform initiatives, which will lead to sustainable
changes to the primary health care system.
- National Envelope - to advance primary health care renewal through
coordinated national efforts; to address common barriers or opportunities for primary
health care renewal; and to support/complement activities under the per capita provincial/territorial
component.
- Multi-Jurisdictional Envelope - to support collaborative initiatives
between two or more provincial/territorial governments.
- Aboriginal Envelope - to support the integrated delivery of primary
health care services to Aboriginal peoples, regardless of where they live in Canada.
- Official Language Minority Communities Envelope - to support initiatives
that will improve access to effective primary health care services for French and English
speaking minority communities across Canada.
The Fund's objectives are consistent with primary health care reform priorities identified
in both the 2000 and 2003 First Ministers' health care agreements, as well as major national
and provincial health studies conducted over recent years, including the Romanow Report.
They seek to:
- increase the number of primary health care organizations that are accountable to provide
a prescribed set of comprehensive services to the populations they serve;
- establish multi-disciplinary provider teams within these primary health care organizations;
- facilitate coordination and integration with health services available elsewhere, such
as hospitals;
- increase the emphasis on health promotion, disease and injury prevention, and chronic
diseases management; and to,
- expand 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week access to essential services.
Changing the health care system is a challenging task that takes time and unwavering effort.
The Government of Canada is making substantial investments to ensure that the efforts of
provinces and territories to reform primary health care lead to long-term, sustainable
change. Multi-year activities will receive monies under the Primary Health Care Transition
Fund until March 2006.
Visit http://web.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/prim/phctf-fassp/index_e.html for
more information.
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