Solving the Family Health Crisis (Part 2 of 3)

Hey All,

Welcome back to Middle Ground; this is the fifth newsletter as part of our 28 policies in the 28-day series ahead of the 2025 Ontario provincial election.

This weekend, I’ll tackle the Family Health Crisis with three policy suggestions that together can help ensure everyone in Ontario has access to a family doctor by 2030.

Today’s first issue will be about centralizing and digitizing patient records.

What is the family health crisis?
4.1 million people in Ontario (nearly 25% of the province) do not have a family doctor. This problem is expected to worsen by 2030 as another 2,400 family doctors retire, leaving over 7 million people without a family doctor.

Even for those who do have a family doctor, it often isn’t convenient to visit them. 1 million people have a family doctor more than 50km from their home, and 150,000 have a family doctor more than 200km from their home. 

What makes this scarier is that 75% of deaths in Ontario are from chronic diseases. These deaths can be avoided or delayed with proper diagnosis, monitoring and planning with a family doctor.  

The lack of family doctors is not just a problem for specific individuals; it's a massive societal issue. Poor health creates additional social and financial burdens, putting more stress on our social systems, resulting in more ER visits and overloading our hospitals. It’s estimated that 15% of ER visits are issues a family doctor could deal with, and another 20% are for issues that a family doctor could have prevented. Simply put, we could reduce the burden on hospitals by 30%+ by ensuring everyone has a family doctor.

What challenges are family doctors facing in their clinics?
A November 2023 Report from the Ontario College of Family Physicians (included in the further reading) found, "On average, family doctors spend 19 hours a week on administrative tasks such as writing sick notes and filling out lengthy insurance forms.” The Canadian Medical Association reports that family doctors work an average of 52 hours a week, meaning 37% of their time is spent on administrative tasks. 

Dedicating this much time to unnecessary paperwork such as requisition forms, consultation requests, sick notes, and insurance forms would free up more time for actually treating patients. Especially in larger cities like Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa, where the issue is not proximity to a family doctor but their availability, clearing out their schedule will immediately positively impact patients.

How can we reduce the administrative burden?
If you have recently been to a doctor, you might have experienced firsthand how antiquated their systems are. I recently needed a requisition, and the process included my doctor filling out a form online, printing it, signing it, handing me the paper, I brought it to the specialist who scanned it, administered the test and gave me another paper sheet to bring back to my doctor. This entire process can be automated. 

I’ve also experienced difficulty in getting information transferred from one doctor to another, as everything needs to be done manually between the clinics. 

A simple solution that would cut hours of administrative burden and allow doctors to throw away their printers and fax machines would be to create a central digitized healthcare system.

This centralized system operated by the provincial government would allow doctors to send requisitions and consultation requests as well as upload prescriptions, doctor's notes and all client medical data. It would be accessible by any doctor with your health card details and by you (using your health card). This not only reduces the administrative burden but allows individuals to control their own health by accessing their test results and medical history and allowing doctors to see a complete medical history instead of just the results of tests they have ordered. 

Further Reading:

• Ontario Family Physicians Report

• Canadian Medical Association Report

Onwards and Upwards,

Liam Gill

P.S. - Please share this with as many people as possible to help grow our community and help us hold our elected officials responsible for implementing these policy initiatives.