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There is but one: ensure that every Canadian who wants one has a regular source of primary care. More than five million do not, a cruel and costly failure, a damning violation of the two most sacred principles of medicare: accessibility and comprehensiveness.Article content The no vacancy signs must come down. Every Canadian should be attached to primary care the way every student is attached to a school. Not someday, but now — ideally within three years, no more than five. Failure here is medicare lost. It cannot be an option.Article content
Beat the targets and the payment pool gets a bonus; fall short and the pot shrinks. Immediately, the public’s problem becomes the physicians’ problem too. At last their interests and ours align. Team-based care becomes the new normal as the only way to meet enrolment targets. Doctors who struggle to look after 1,000 or 1,200 patients on their own start working alongside nurses, therapists, psychologists and others.
Wait times to see specialists decline. Everyone works to maximum scope. No one Is overwhelmed and burnt out.puts up a fight . Physicians in some provinces reject enrolment targets and spurn the new models. Governments turn to nurse practitioners to lead clinics and enrol patients.