Increased primary care funding & new medical records system to be included in provincial budget
The provincial government is pre-releasing some of the items to be announced in next week’s budget.
It includes a new electronic medical record’s system.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones says it will integrate patient records, reduce paperwork for doctors and improve the quality of care for patients.
“The proposed primary care medical record system will be an interoperable, secure system accessible from across Ontario that will provide clinicians with a more complete view of a patient’s health history, improving coordination across the healthcare system,” says Jones.
Jones says they are now reaching out to vendors to determine the exact cost of implementation.
The province is also revealing an increase in funding for the government’s primary care strategy.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy says an extra $325 million will be committed this year to expanding primary care.
“Through the 2026 budget, our government is also increasing overall funding for the primary care action plan by more than $1 billion to a total of $3.4 billion between 2025 and 2029,” says Bethlenfalvy.
“We will continue to support a care system that is comprehensive, convenient and connected for every single person in Ontario to close the gap for people in need of primary care.”
Jones says the funding allows them to approve another 124 proposals for new or expanded family health teams.
Jone says they have also exceeded the goal of connecting at least 300,000 patients to a primary care provider over the past 12 months.
“Since the launch of our primary care action plan, we have reduced the healthcare connect wait list as it stood on January 1st, 2025, by over 87%. And in 2026-27, our government will connect 500,000 patients to primary care across Ontario,” says Jones.
The province aims to connect every Ontario resident to a primary care provider by 2029.