Orillia could hire family doctors to create municipal clinic

As millions of Ontarians struggle without access to a primary care provider, Orillia is hoping that it may have a solution to address the gap.

On Monday, the City approved the creation of a working group that will assess the feasibility of creating a city-run medical clinic, which would include hiring family physicians as municipal employees.

“It’s time to act and we think this is something that Orillia can do,” said Orillia Mayor Don McIsaac. “My goal is to have every citizen of Orillia have access to a healthcare provider by the end of the year.”

Orillia and Lake Country Physician Recruitment will participate in the working group.

The volunteer committee says 25 per cent of the Couchiching region is currently unattached to a primary care provider, and adds that an estimated 15 to 17 additional family doctors are needed.

“We’re investing in something that makes a difference,” said the mayor. “When we talk to doctors coming up, they come out of school, they have significant debt. The last thing they want to do is put money to set up a practice. We can help them with that and take that barrier out of the way.”

The city would be paving the way in Ontario for other municipalities to follow suit, however, it is looking to a small city in British Columbia for inspiration.

Colwood, B.C. on Vancouver Island became the first Canadian city to hire a family doctor late last year and will be opening its city-run clinic this year.

The mayor said he’s reached out to Ontario’s Ministry of Health to see how that could be applied here.

“I’ve been personally in communication with the Minister of Health and she’s assured me that the doctors can bill OHIP for these costs,” the mayor added. “So we’ll pay the doctors salary, they will be municipal employees but we will have the doctor bill OHIP and we’ll cover the funds that way.”

The group is expected to report back to council at the end of March on whether this program can be implemented in Orillia.