Health Care Connect for primary care clinicians
Find information on Health Care Connect, including how to join and accept new patients looking for primary care.
Overview
Health Care Connect helps Ontarians find a primary care clinician who is accepting new patients in their local community.
A primary care clinician could be a:
- family doctor
- nurse practitioner
- primary care team
Ontario is taking steps to ensure people and their families have access to high-quality primary care closer to home. Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan will connect 2 million more people to a publicly funded family doctor, nurse practitioner or primary care team by 2029, achieving the government’s goal of connecting everyone in the province to primary care.
Join Health Care Connect
To join Health Care Connect, primary care clinicians can either:
- contact their local Ontario Health Team and Primary Care Network to confirm their interest in accepting patients from Health Care Connect
- call Ontario Health atHome at
1-888-579-6707 or email HealthCareConnect@OntarioHealthatHome.ca
How Health Care Connect works for registrants
To register, individuals must have:
- a valid Ontario health card number
- an up-to-date mailing address associated with their health card
When registering, individuals are asked to complete a health questionnaire to help connect them to a primary care clinician that best suits their needs. Priority is given to individuals who have higher health needs based on this health questionnaire.
Journey from registration to referral:
- Once registered, individuals are assigned to a Care Connector.
- Care Connectors, who are nurses employed by Ontario Health atHome, will work with Ontario Health Teams and their Primary Care Networks to identify family doctors, nurse practitioners and primary care teams who are accepting new patients in the area.
- When a match is found, a referral letter is sent to both the registrant and primary care clinician’s office with each other’s contact information. The primary care clinician initiates contact with the registrant to schedule an initial appointment.
- After the initial appointment, the primary care clinician and registrant will decide whether to go ahead with ongoing care.