Family Health Organization

How does an FHO work?

Your Family Health Organization (FHO) is a group of family physicians who work together giving your family best access to personalized care and quality services – with a focus on illness prevention.

FHOs provide care during regular and extended office hours and patients also have access to a nurse-staffed Telephone Health Advisory Service. 

For FHOs to be effective, enrolled patients must commit to receiving their primary health care Monday to Friday from their primary physician or, if she is not available, from another doctor in the FHO.

What Does This Mean For Patients?

When you are a patient at the North York Family Medicine Centre, you may access:

  • Ability to call for same day appointments based on availability

  • Requests for us to advocate for you to get the tests and services you need

  • Requests for us to make appropriate referrals on your behalf

  • Telephone health advice 24/7 through the Telephone Health Advisory Service

  • Extended hours on evenings and weekends

 
 
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Can I go to another walk-in clinics if I am part of your FHO?

The preference is that you DO NOT go to another walk-in clinic outside The North York Family Medicine Centre

If you belong to the The North York Family Medicine Centre, your doctor will be negatively billed by OHIP if you visit a different clinic.

Additionally, if you go to a different walk-in clinic, that clinic DOES NOT FORWARD YOUR RECORDS to our office, so our records of your health will not be complete.

The government compensates our group of family physicians for remaining open extra hours and into the evening many times per week to ensure you have access to urgent medical care.

 
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What is a same day appointment

Same day appointments are only available Monday through Friday.

A very limited number of these appointments are available on a first-come basis with your own doctor for appointments that are urgent and cannot wait for a regular booked appointment.

Examples of this include:

  • urinary tract infections

  • strep throat

  • respiratory tract infections.

A physical cannot be booked as a same day appointment.

 
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What services are not covered by OHIP for patients?

The Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) pays for most of your medical visits to our office.

There are, however, uninsured services, which OHIP does NOT COVER, such as:

  • prescription refills by phone

  • medical forms for insurance

  • legal or employment purposes

  • photocopying, faxing and transferring medical records

While you can pay for these services on an as-needed basis, The North York Family Medicine Centre offer an Annual Fee Plan as a more convenient and cost-effective way to manage these charges. 

Please speak to a medical office assistant to enquire about this plan.