•  Yesterday, the Ontario government launched the eagerly-awaited second call for Interprofessional Primary Care Team proposals. Ontario’s Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones, alongside Primary Care Action Team (PCAT) chair, Dr. Jane Philpott, made the announcement in Brampton. The government aims to create and expand approximately 75 primary care teams and a $250 million investment is expected to connect an additional 500,000 people to primary care clinicians. The announcement was preceded by a first call back in June for 130 teams. The deadline for submissions is November 14, 2025 (applications page link here).

Key highlights in this round:

  • Eligibility has expanded to all communities across Ontario in contrast to the first round’s restriction to high-need postal codes.
  • Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) now have eight weeks to develop and submit proposals. This is a substantial increase from the contentious three-week timeline that characterized the initial round.
  • OHTs can now submit multiple applications per region rather than being limited to a single proposal. Each OHT has been allotted a specific number of submissions based on their community attachment rate, and can also resubmit proposals not selected for funding through the initial call.
  • The new teams will continue to prioritize individuals on the Health Care Connect waitlist, targeting primary care attachment by spring 2026. The province did a list cleanup in July that reduced the list by approximately 25%.

Minister Jones also announced that the Health Care Connect waitlist had been reduced by over 40% since the initial call for proposals. While the focus for this round remains on attachment, operational changes demonstrate that the government is shifting  from emergent needs to broader investments in growing the overall primary care system across the province.

Santis Insights

Unlike the first round which concentrated on the province’s highest-need communities, this call appears to cast a wider net across Ontario. This approach should address geographic equity concerns and provide opportunities for communities that may have been overlooked in the initial round.

The expanded framework allows OHTs to submit more than one proposal, including  ones rejected  in the first round. There have  been indications that unsuccessful applicants from the first round will be given additional support and constructive feedback to improve their proposals. These measures and more time allowed for submissions will help reduce artificial competition between providers and allow for more innovative ideas, like the sharing of Full Time Equivalents (FTEs). These changes could enable prospective applications to be more thoughtful with community engagement, promote more  partnerships, and present more diverse delivery models for care.

Many of the core challenges however – increased dialogue between the community organizations, clearer expectations from government, and an acknowledgement of care beyond just attachment – were not directly addressed in the announcement.

At the heart of the issue is the human health resource component. While Minister Jones called out the primary care workforce explicitly in her remarks, the announcement did not speak to the increase in health care workers needed to underpin this expansion. The success of these new teams will depend heavily on the province’s ability to recruit and retain qualified health care professionals across diverse geographic areas. Programs like “As-of-Right” and “Learn and Stay” definitely contribute to this goal, as does the previously announced $142 million over three years for recruitment and retention. Even so, these commitments and allocations feel modest against the scale of planned expansion. If primary care is to remain one of these government’s key initiatives, support will need to go beyond these initial top-ups and policy changes.

The government is clearly prioritizing speed and scale to meet its 2029 target of connecting two million more Ontarians to primary care – a timeline that strategically aligns with the next provincial election cycle – but the increased flexibility shows an understanding that expansions need to be sustainable. By spring 2026, Ontario will have 205+ teams in various stages of development (130 from round one, 75+ from round two). The need for support will be diverse as more and more teams are onboarded. Hopefully,  the province recognizes that implementation will need to continue to be careful, consultative, and collaborative.

Ontario’s second call for primary care team expansion represents genuine ambition and demonstrates the Ford government’s strong desire to move quickly on its January election commitment to add more family doctors’ offices by 2029. Oddly enough, these changes have been largely driven by constant pressure from the Ontario Liberals and Ontario NDP. Will there be enough progress to diffuse the issue by the time the Ontario Liberals have a new leader in place and NDP Leader Marit Stiles is ready to fight another election?

Key Dates and Details

  • Submission deadlines for OHTs/PCNs: November 14, 2025, 5 p.m. EDT
  • Successful candidate notification timeline: Spring 2026
  • Round 3: Anticipated Fall 2026

Further Reading

Read today’s official news release here.
Review the details for the Call for Proposals here.

Read the Primary Care Act, 2025 here.

Read the original Primary Care Action Plan announcement here.

Original source here.