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Table 1 Health care payment model on Ontario

From: Delivery of primary health care to persons who are socio-economically disadvantaged: does the organizational delivery model matter?

Characteristic

Community health centre (CHC)

Fee for service (FFS)

Family health network (FHN)

Health service organization (HSO)

Year introduced

1970s

1965

2001

1973

Group size

Group practice, size unspecified

1 Physician

Minimum 3

Minimum 3

Physician remuneration

Salary

Based on fees for services provided

Blended capitationb

Capitationb

Patient enrollment

Required, no roster size limit

Not required

Required, disincentive to enroll >2,400

Required, disincentive to enroll >2,400

Access

Extended office hours

No specified requirements

Extended office hours, THASc

Extended office hours, THASc

Multidisciplinaritya

Extensive

None

Some

Some

  1. Table adapted from: Russell GM, Dahrouge S, Hogg W, Geneau R, Muldoon L, Tuna M: Managing chronic disease in Ontario primary care: the impact of organizational factors. Ann Fam Med 2009, 7:309–318.
  2. aMultidisciplinarity refers to the presence within a practice of allied health professionals who are neither doctors nor nurses (e.g., physiotherapists, pharmacists, social workers, nurse practitioners, dieticians).
  3. bBlended Capitation is a method of funding health care in which the funder provides physicians with a base payment for each patient (adjusted for age and sex) enrolled in their practice. Physicians provide comprehensive care for all patients in their panel, and receive incentives, premiums, and special payments for the provision of supplemental primary health care services.
  4. cTelephone Health Advisory Service, a patient telephone advisory system for which physicians are required to provide on-call services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.