The Family Medical Group (FMG) Model

The Family Medical Group (FMG) was created as an initiative of the Primary Health Care Transition Fund (PHCTF) introduced by the Canadian Government to support and make improvements in health care delivery of Primary Health Care (PHC). PHCTF is an $800 million program, allocating funds to the provinces and territories to subsidize wide scale primary health care reforms, one of the main objectives being chronic disease prevention and management (Health Canada, 2007).

FMG is a model developed in Quebec to improve the delivery of primary health care to non-geographical patients enrolled in the program. The model has physicians working in collaboration with nurses to provide comprehensive services to individuals and communities (Santé Montreal, 2016).

Primary care services are crucial as they are the entry points into the healthcare system. Historically these entry points, private medical practices owned by physicians, were underfunded, inadequately supported and poorly organized. With the PFCTF, reforms to these entry points were put into place improving the organization of the practices and the delivery of care. Physicians were subsidized part of their operating costs and additional funds were available to obtain other resources, such as; nursing and administrative staff, and computer resources. Equitable sharing of expenses and resources assisted in accessibility and continuity of care. FMGs are re-accredited every three years, when services are verified and adjusted if needed, and objectives for the next three years are set (Breton, Lévesque, Pineault, & Hogg, 2011).

Evidence demonstrates that FMGs are successful, yet improvements can be made. Ontario’s model, the Family Health Team (FHT), is more comprehensive, using a multidisciplinary team, providing more services and more hours of access. It is a model that is cited as one of the best in the world and one we would do well to follow (Breton, Lévesque, Pineault, & Hogg, 2011).

Elizabeth

Resources

Breton, M., Lévesque, J. F., Pineault, R., & Hogg, W. (2011). Primary Care Reform: Can Quebec's Family Medicine Group Model benefit from the experience of Ontario's Family Health Teams?. Healthcare policy = Politiques de Santé, 7(2), e122–e135. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3287954/

Health Canada (2007). Chronic disease prevention and management. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-care-system/reports-publications/primary-health-care/chronic-disease-prevention-management.html

Santé Montreal. (2016). Family Medicine Group (FMG), Super Clinic and U-FMG. Retrieved from the Government of Quebec website https://santemontreal.qc.ca/en/public/montreals-institutions-at-a-glance/family-medicine-groups/