On July 21, 2017, the OCFP presented to the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Negotiations Committee - at the invitation of the Committee - to help inform Physician Services Agreement discussions with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

The OMA's Section on General & Family Practice (SGFP) and The Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO) also took part in the Committee's consultations. Given our common membership, the OCFP is pleased that the key goals identified by AFHTO and the SGFP are aligned with the OCFP's principles around supporting family physicians and strengthening primary care by ensuring the necessary infrastructure. Joint meetings between the SGFP, AFHTO and the OCFP confirmed a commitment to ongoing collaboration as fundamental to ensuring family physicians have a strong, unified voice on relevant issues.

Represented by OCFP President Dr. Glenn Brown, Board Member Dr. Peter Hutten-Czapski and CEO Ms. Leanne Clarke, the OCFP presentation focused on issues of equity, sustainability and access - all reflecting the guiding principles of our work on behalf of family physicians. We thank the OMA Negotiations Committee for the opportunity to propose the following topics for consideration.

Highlights of the OCFP's presentation to the OMA Negotiations Committee

1. Addressing inequities in funding of models, especially inequalities arising from unilateral cuts that have disproportionately affected family physicians
2. Improving access to inter-professional health-care providers, particularly for mental health, coordinating care for complex and chronic patients, and improving access to resources and support for pain and addictions
3. Supporting family physicians who take on leadership roles and especially consideration for rural family physicians who participate in teaching, research, and other leadership roles that may affect Health Human Resources planning
4. Establishing a mechanism for effective Primary Care collaboration with the OMA Section on General and Family Practice and the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, to focus on supporting Patient Medical Homes in Patient Medical Neighbourhoods that better link all practices together with other health-system partners in the community.
5. Enabling improvements in population health through stronger links to Public Health, through ongoing funding for Electronic Medical Records to update technology that ensures that ability to extract and use data to improve practice. Improvements would be anchored in meaningful measures.
6. Ensuring effective transitions in and out of family practice by allowing new graduates to access Family Health Organization (FHO)/Family Health Team (FHT)-models in which they have been trained.