Dr. Smart did an excellent job of detailing our vision and how we would like to practise.
The benefits to patients are innumerable. Family physicians are trained in complexity care in a complex health system with complex diagnostic and treatment options. We want to be able to work at that top of scope, and have other providers around us in order not to be focusing on the business. If we're able to do that, patients will absolutely benefit, and certainly in longitudinal care.
I would like to have patients attached to my clinic that I see from birth to death, with whom I have an understanding. I understand their context. I understand their family, their values, what they want out of their care and their goals in life. The evidence is out there that we provide better, and certainly more efficient care, for the dollars invested into that.
That's where the primary health care integration fund comes in if we can transform that. That's why it's a time limited fund. If we can get into these team-based practices, it will be more efficient for the health care system, and patients will benefit.