See 10 Steps to becoming a FHT - for providers for more information.

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has indicated an interest in the establishment of a Family Health Team Association as a means to support the growth of Family Health Teams (FHTs) across Ontario.

As you know, the Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care has moved very quickly to establish the 150 FHTs that it committed to have formed by 2007. It has currently approved 100, and applications for the third wave of FHTs closed on February 15, 2006.

The FHT approach is new.   While built on the foundations of Primary Care, it provides a new level of interdisciplinary collaboration and chronic disease management.

Sustainable and effective implementation must be:

• Province-wide
• Ambitious in terms of size, scope, schedule, and the anticipated benefits for both patients and the health care delivery “system”
• Designed to accommodate a variety of arrangements to meet local needs
• Hoped that the FHTs will all act as a catalyst to get community services working together on a highly collaborative basis
• An approach that requires a change from a largely medical-centred model to a cross-disciplinary approach using a true service delivery partnership between physicians and allied health professionals in order for it to succeed.

Because it is a “work-in-progress,” especially with respect to the development of new professional working relationships:

• The risk factors are extremely high for inefficiency and abandonment, which hampers the opportunities for implementation
• There is a lack of generally accepted and clearly understood administrative and operational guidelines and protocols.
• There is an opportunity for synergism to complement the work of government and the medical associations dedicated to the success of FHTs.

The role of the FHT Association will be advocacy for FHTs from an interdisciplinary perspective complimenting proposed joint policies of the MOHLT, OMA, and other interested parties.  It will provide product such as liability and benefit insurance, templates for governance, international primary care educational exchange programs, and a forum for open discussion and resources.

In order to form the Association, tangible evidence is needed that support exists within the FHT community.  It is proposed to fund the association through a mix of government funding and corporate sponsorship.