Key Success Factors
and Pitfalls
Continuity & Comprehensiveness of Care
Primary Care Toolkit for Family Physicians
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
Factors to Ensure Success
Cooperative Partnerships with Government
Cooperative partnerships should be developed with various levels of government because it is clear that neither family physicians nor governments can by themselves ensure success in primary care. This recommendation applies as well to continuity and comprehensiveness of care as it does to the other aspects of changing or new primary care development. The preferred models that are being established are too large, complex and costly to allow the degree of independence that used to exist in family practice. While governments will insist on accountability in the spending of healthcare funds, family physicians will look to governments for financial and other support to ensure success.
It is therefore recommended that family physicians and other associated health professionals find ways to partner with governments – local, regional and provincial / territorial - as a means of achieving mutually agreed upon goals and objectives. It is essential that partnerships nurture confidence and trust to be successful. And while such partnerships have traditionally tended to be at higher levels of government, family physicians and primary care groups with whom they are associated should seek partnerships throughout a range of local and regional governance opportunities. Examples of innovation in government partnerships include chronic disease management collaboratives that have been sponsored by federal health transition funds. Others are group practice partnerships with regional health authorities. The added benefits of these ventures include opportunities for increased understanding and respect between partners as well as improved support for primary care.