New downtown Toronto clinic may be future of primary care

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A new health clinic in downtown Toronto may be the future model of primary healthcare.

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The Telus Health MyCare Union clinic, a publicly-funded medical centre with no out-of-pocket fees, offers traditional in-person care with a technological twist: the option of virtual appointments via video on patients’ phones.

The clinic is accepting thousands of new patients from the city as well as people who are employed downtown but travel long distances for work.

There are plans for future expansion in a city where approximately half a million residents don’t have a family physician.

Dr. Alissia Valentinis, Telus Health’s senior medical director, said this model could and should be the future of primary care in Ontario.

“When we started this clinic, our goal of course was to help increase accessibility and care to many Ontario and Toronto patients as we could,” she said.

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“But we also wanted to ensure we started off on the right foot with our physicians, make sure that we were setting up an environment for them to be able to thrive and not get burnt out so that they can continue to enjoy doing the work of practicing family medicine.”

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According to the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), family doctors spend 19 hours a week on administrative tasks, including four hours writing notes or completing forms for patients.

Dr. Valentinis said that work has been cut down by the use of technology. Doctors at the clinic can use AI Scribe, an artificial intelligence program that summarizes medical notes from real-time conversations between physicians and patients.

“The physician can actually just focus on the patient and watch the patient and not have to keep (their) eyes on the computer. Our physicians have said this has been revolutionary for them in terms of alleviating a lot of the administrative burden.”

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Across the province, the numbers are dire when it comes to residents without a primary care physician.

The OMA says there are at least 2.5 million people not attached to a family doctor. They warn that number may climb to 4.4 million in a year due to retirements and changing careers.

However, in late January, Sylvia Jones, Ontario’s deputy premier and health minister, announced $1.4 billion in new funding to connect more than two million residents with a family doctor or primary care team within the next four years. The province had earlier earmarked more than $400 million in funding for primary care.

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Since opening in July 2024 when unused office space was converted into a medical facility inside the Telus building on York St. near Scotiabank Arena, Dr. Valentinis said the clinic has already accepted 3,807 new patients as of last week and has room for at least 2,200 more.

Six physicians are currently employed at the clinic and growing their practices, she said, adding Telus Health is working to expand by adding more doctors to the clinic.

For Dr. Valentinis, new patients have been “overwhelmingly positive” about the clinic’s accessibility and flexibility.

“Many of the patients that we are seeing have been waiting for years on various wait lists, have been going to walk-in clinics or emergency rooms to get their health care. They are so grateful to have their very own family physician.”

Several months after opening, Dr. Valentinis said a large number of patients have been referrals.

“Friends, family, grandparents, children of current patients that are just raving about having their own family doctor.”

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