Primary Care

Transparency is not risk free. But neither is restricted access

Patients should not have to file formal requests to understand their own care. They should not have to wait months to read information that already exists. And they should not be excluded from conversations that shape their health and lives.

Bill to criminalize forced sterilization sparks debate over reproductive justice and medical practice

Bill S-228, which would criminalize forced and coerced sterilization with an up to 14-year prison sentence, is on its way to becoming law. But is it a step in the right direction? Experts weigh in.

The paperwork burden weighing on Canadian physicians

What’s the prescription for physician burnout? Intervention is required to simplify non-clinical workflows and alleviate the administrative burden on physicians.

Ontario’s health-care system was built for a different era but to quote our PM: ‘Nostalgia is not a strategy’

Ontario’s health-care system retains extraordinary potential. Realizing it will require abandoning outdated assumptions and committing to structural reform.

What Canada can learn from Costa Rica’s primary care system

Costa Rica is a middle-income country that is achieving health outcomes that far exceed what its resources would predict. But what is at the heart of their success?

From awareness to accountability: The attention is nice but what comes after Heart Month?

Each February, Heart Month brings renewed attention to cardiovascular disease. Awareness matters. But when the campaigns end, an uncomfortable question remains: what changes?

The AI we get may not be the AI we need: Why physician-led governance is essential

AI holds enormous promise. Yet without clear, focused, physician-led and patient-centred governance, the AI we get may not be the AI we need.

We’re building primary care teams. Who governs them?

As Canada builds team-based primary care, the governance question must be asked at both provincial and federal levels: What does each profession need within its own regulatory framework to prepare members for team-based primary care?

In rural Canada, burnout looks different

Burnout in Northern Ontario is not simply about being tired. It is about being stretched across distance, across roles, and across unmet needs. It reflects the broader challenge of delivering care in a vast country with uneven resource distribution.

Picking my own lane

Effective system design will take creativity, innovation and sustained change management. In this moment, when the old paradigm is clearly broken, I am more committed than ever to the hard work of generative thinking and deep engagement.

Is there a doctor in the House (of Commons)?

If solutions lie in policy and politics, what about physicians? Is there a role they can play on the political field?

Sick notes are slowly being banned but much more is needed to reduce administrative burden

Doctors across Canada agree: the crushing paperwork in medicine is unsustainable. Together, we can create a better system that truly supports both patients and the physicians who serve them.

‘Dangerous outcomes’: The limitations of BMI as a diagnostic tool

Researchers, clinicians and advocates have been raising concerns about the BMI, saying it is not a comprehensive indicator of health and using it can have disastrous results, especially for racialized populations.

Manitoba slashes private nursing agencies: The path forward or a policy stumble?

Last month, Manitoba took the bold step in cutting nearly all its private nursing agency contracts. Was it the right move? Experts weigh in.

From harm reduction to harm production: A frontline physician on the closure of safe consumption sites

The closure of safe consumption sites in Ontario flies in the face of scientific evidence and my experiences as a physician on the frontlines.

Don’t give up on your health. Give up on the old playbook

As January recedes in the rearview mirror, so have most New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, eat better or get fit. But when success is only defined by a number on the scale, disappointment is almost inevitable.

Canadians deserve up to date health guidance on alcohol

Despite a mountain of evidence, the federal government’s guidance on alcohol has not been updated since 2011. Canadians deserve clear guidance on alcohol and health, and there is a simple path forward.

Alberta has restricted access to gender based medical care for trans youth. Will the rest of Canada soon follow?

If clinicians cannot demonstrate who is most likely to benefit from pediatric gender-based care, governments may do it for them, with young people paying the price.

The quiet commercialization of primary care records

An emerging model is quietly turning Canadian patient medical records, and patients themselves, into lucrative commercial assets – often without patients' explicit knowledge or consent.

Where two worlds meet: The importance of cultural sensitivity in medicine

"I felt not like a physician but more like an interpreter – not of language, but of the space between two worlds: Western medicine and the cultural practices that shaped Lakshmi and Prakash’s life."