A Family Health Team is made up of different health care professionals who work together to provide you with primary care. Instead of having one family doctor, you will have access to a variety of health care professionals so you can access the right health care from the right practitioner, at the right time.

Your Family Health Team will include a physician or nurse practitioner as your primary care provider, who oversees your care and is responsible for directing and coordinating with the rest of the team. Your team will include a combination of the following health care professionals:

• Registered nurse
• Licensed practical nurse
• Patient navigator
• Social worker
• Licensed counselling therapist
• Registered dietitian
• Occupational therapist
• Physiotherapist
• Respiratory therapist
• Pharmacist
• Advanced care paramedic
• Physician assistant
• Medical office assistant

When you book an appointment, you’ll see the provider who is best suited for your immediate needs while your electronic medical record ensures your entire team is up to date on your condition. Our goal is for Family Health Teams to provide primary care services within 5 days.

The members of each Family Health Team differ depending on the needs of the individual communities they serve. The members may or may not be in the same building as your primary care provider, but they will have a central administrative team that coordinates all services.

With a Family Health Team, you are at the centre. You’ll benefit from:

• Faster access to primary care appointments
• The ability to book directly with a variety of providers without a referral
• Team coverage to ensure care is still available during staff vacations or illnesses
• Access to after-hours care (where applicable)
• Specialized support for your specific needs (chronic illness management, mental health services, and more)
• A team where every provider has access to your health history via your electronic medical record
• A reduced need to rely on health care options that are harder to access

Many people are used to booking appointments with their doctor. In a team-based model, the focus shifts to connecting patients with the most appropriate provider for their needs. This can mean receiving care sooner while maintaining continuity, as members of the team share access to the same electronic medical record and work together to support your health.

For example, if your physician or nurse practitioner is on vacation, you don’t have to wait until they’re back to have an appointment. You can book in with another doctor or nurse practitioner who is part of the same team. Or, depending on the reason for your appointment, you may be better served by a registered nurse, social worker, physiotherapist, or another health professional on the team.

Here are some examples of how booking an appointment with your Family Health Team could work:

• You believe you have a throat infection, but when you call to make an appointment, you learn that your doctor is on vacation. Your appointment is booked for the next day with a nurse practitioner, who can also assess, diagnose, and treat the infection.
• You have Type 1 Diabetes and have questions about your continuous glucose monitor. Your appointment is booked with the team’s registered nurse who is a Certified Diabetes Educator.

In all these examples, your electronic medical record keeps the entire team up to date.

In addition to improving access to primary care, the Family Health Team model helps reduce pressure on New Brunswick’s emergency departments. When patients are connected to a team, they have quicker access to a range of health professionals who can help address many health concerns before they become urgent. This means fewer people need to visit the emergency department for non-emergency issues, and emergency teams can focus on patients with serious or life-threatening needs.

Yes. While Horizon and Vitalité have adopted the term Family Health Team, you may see Collaborative Care Clinic or Collaborative Care Team used by others. These terms all refer to the same model of care, based on Dr. Jane Philpott’s book Health for All: A Doctor’s prescription for a healthier Canada (2024), and the teams working together to provide New Brunswickers access to primary care.

Family Health Teams follow an evidence-based model of care that is widely used across Canada and the rest of the world. This model has been proven to provide better access to primary care along with an improved patient experience.

By bringing together different health care professionals with a variety of skills and experiences, teams are better able to address the needs of the patients they serve and provide access to primary care in a timely manner.

Primary care is the first place you go for non-emergent health care services in your community. It is the everyday care that keeps you and your family healthy and connects you to other specialized medical services.

Horizon’s Family Health Teams provide you with primary care such as:

• Chronic disease management
• Treatment of minor illness and injury
• Mental health care
• Referrals to specialists
• Support for addiction
• Routine health screening
• Regular check-ups
• Health education

If you do not have a primary care provider, sign up for the provincial registry here.

Depending on your specific health concern, you’ll see the provider best suited to help you. For example, your appointment may be booked with:

• A physician or nurse practitioner to diagnose and treat illness
• A registered dietitian for nutritional counselling
• A pharmacist for a medication review
• A social worker for short-term counselling
• A physiotherapist for a soft tissue injury

Nurse practitioners working in a Family Health Team provide comprehensive primary care to patients of all ages. The scope of practice for nurse practitioners includes:

• Clinical assessments
• Ordering, performing, and interpreting tests
• Diagnosing and treating illness
• Managing ongoing health concerns and chronic diseases
• Prescribing medications and treatments
• Developing specific care plans
• Coordinating care with other providers
• Providing referrals to specialists

A physician assistant is a licensed health care professional who works in collaboration with physicians and other health care providers to deliver patient care. They work under the supervision of a licensed physician, but can perform a wide variety of clinical tasks such as:

• Patient interviews and physical assessments
• Ordering, performing, and interpreting tests
• Prescribing medications (determined by the supervising physician)
• Managing chronic conditions
• Preventative care (immunizations, screening assessments)
• Patient health education, counselling, and coordination

If you are on the provincial registry, you will be contacted by a local Family Health Team when a primary care provider is accepting new patients. Primary care providers obtain lists of patients from the provincial registry.

If you already have a primary care provider, you do not need to take any action. You will continue to receive care through your current provider. Over time, we are introducing improvements to increase access and ensure all New Brunswickers have access to the services provided by a Family Health Team.

If you need primary care now and have not yet been attached to a Family Health Team, you can learn about your options for care at SoWhyWait.ca or call Tele-Care 811 for advice from a registered nurse (available 24/7).