Primary Health Care
The World Health Organization defines primary health care as a societal approach to enabling health systems to support a person’s health needs in an inclusive and cost-effective manner. This approach acknowledges the intersections of integrated health services, the social determinants of health, and individual and community empowerment. 1
In Canada, health care workers including family physicians, nurse practitioners, dentists, occupational therapists, psychologists, optometrists, and many more provide primary health care services across a range of settings to meet the diverse needs of our growing population.
The Primary Health Care dashboard provides an integrated view of workforce supply data with service delivery patterns and population health outcomes to provide a connected view of provider availability, family medicine services, and access-to-care indicators across provinces and territories.
Visit the FAQ or launch the guided tutorial in the Provider Profiles module. For optimal performance, use a web browser rather than a mobile device.
Latest update: 2025-06-23
Questions to Explore
- How does the supply of various primary health care providers and family physician-to-nurse practitioner ratios vary by health region?
- What are current and historical family medicine service volumes, full time equivalents (FTE) per population, and compensation trends?
- How many hospitalizations and emergency department visits could be managed in primary care settings?
- What proportion of the population has a regular care provider, accesses dental care, or uses electronic health records?
Data Sources
- Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI): Health Workforce Database (HWDB), National Physician Database (NPDB), and various CIHI indicators
- Statistics Canada: Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS) and Canadian Oral Health Survey (COHS)
- Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC): Canadian Chronic Diseases Surveillance System (CCDSS)