Thank you for the question. It's a difficult one, because there are clearly so many issues.
From my perspective, probably the biggest crisis in front of us where there are some options, but what we could work on, is the crisis in primary care. When that part of the system is not working, it directly leads into the overload we're seeing on secondary care systems like emergency departments and specialist access, etc. That's the beginning of the challenge.
The challenge in primary care impacts physicians, nurses and other health care professionals, as well. If we can start to understand what that is.... I think you've heard from the witnesses today and in our briefs that we provided to you what those problems and issues are that are preventing that system from operating well. That will be the beginning of the systems transformation that we need to get things back on track.
We need to understand that we need to be committed to the team-based care. That's what everybody wants across health professions. We need to address the administrative burden, and that primary care applies to physicians.
We are hearing examples of how nurses are also pulled into these other duties in hospitals that aren't appropriate. It's looking at getting the right people to do the right things and getting people on track, recognizing that this old way of doing things is not working. It's not going to attract or retain people in family medicine. This problem is only going to grow if we don't get serious about transforming that system.
If I had to pick one thing—which, like I said, is hard to do, because it's all very important—that piece is very foundational in terms of how the rest of the things roll forward. The other aspect to that is the national licensure, because that impacts the sustainability of primary care in rural and remote settings, and being able to make sure that physicians in those communities can get relief is critical to retaining them.