Ontario aiming to connect 500,000 more residents with a doctor or nurse practitioner

Ontarians without a primary care practitioner may soon be relieved to connect with one in their community.

This week, the provincial government launched a call for proposals to create and expand approximately 75 primary care teams with the aim of connecting 500,000 more residents with primary care.

It’s an “over $250 million investment,” the Ontario government announced on Monday.

It’s also part of the government’s $2.1 billion primary care action plan to connect everyone in province to convenient primary care by 2029. The entire campaign stems from the Primary Care Act passed in May.

Communities across the province can apply for the recently announced funding. The teams, new or expanded, will be expected to prioritize connecting with individuals within their communities. The successful teams will be unveiled in spring 2026.

In mid-2024, the Ontario College of Family Physicians issued a press release about new data showing that 2.5 million Ontarians didn’t have a family doctor , up from 1.8 million in 2020. Moreover, 670,000 Ontarians were living more than 50 kilometres from their family doctor. And more than 130,000 Ontarians live more than 200 km from their family doctor,

However, the Ontario government isn’t defining primary care providers as exclusively doctors. According to the Health Care Connect waitlist, primary care is delivered by family doctors or nurse practitioners and their teams of health professionals under one roof, including registered nurses, registered practical nurses, physician assistants, physiotherapists, social workers, dieticians, and pharmacists.

And according to the press release accompanying Ontario’s announcement this week, the Health Care Connect waitlist (as of January 1, 2025) decreased by more than 98,000 people or over 42 per cent.

This move is intended to add to the over 300 new primary care teams already across the province. And ultimately be part of connecting two million more Ontarians to publicly funded primary care by 2029.

The funding for the present initiative could go to primary care teams that organize themselves as family health teams, community health centres, nurse practitioner-led clinics or Indigenous primary health care organizations.

In June 2025, the government unveiled $235 million in funding for over 130 new and expanded primary care teams, some of which have already begun accepting new patients.

That initiative focused on communities, identified by postal code , with the highest number of Ontarians who do not have access to primary care. Each successful team had to establish a plan to connect with a significant proportion of unattached people in their areas and demonstrate an ability to make significant progress within a year.

Other previous developments in Ontario primary care include breaking down barriers for 100 internationally trained family physicians to practice medicine in a rural or northern community in 2025, through the “Practice Ready Ontario” program. The aim of that program is to connect licensed, foreign-trained doctors to an additional 120,000 people.

In its 2024 Fall Economic Statement, the province announced $88 million over three years to expand Learn and Stay grants for 1,360 eligible undergraduate students who commit to practicing family medicine in Ontario after they graduate.

Ontario has been making it easier for U.S.-licensed nurses and board-certified physicians to move to and practice in Ontario. In 2025, nearly 1,400 nurses and more than 260 doctors have chosen to work in Ontario.

In May 2025, CEO of the Ontario College of Family Physicians , Deepy Sur, said: “Investments that support family physicians to thrive within a strong primary care foundation will lead to a healthier Ontario and less pressure on other parts of our health system.”

The government’s focus on a team approach has been welcomed by the province’s nurses.

“We commend the government for continuing to expand team-based care – a model that delivers better health outcomes and greater equity. Nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and our interprofessional colleagues are eager to contribute their expertise to these new and expanded teams so that more people across Ontario receive the high-quality, timely and person-centred care they need and deserve,” says Dr. Doris Grinspun, CEO of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario .

The same sentiment extends from nurse practitioners. They are “a largely untapped resource, and by working to their full scope they are uniquely positioned to lead the next phase of accessible, timely, and comprehensive care,” says Dr. NP Michelle Acorn, CEO of the Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario.

• The critical role and timing of Nurse Practitioners in solving Ontario’s primary care crisis
• One fix to the family doctor crisis? Not every problem needs a doctor

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