The 12 Gifts to Family Medicine

The 12 Gifts to Family Medicine

Dear SGFP Members,

This is my last planned letter of 2025 to you.  

On behalf of the SGFP Executive and Teams, we wish you a joyful and restful holiday season. Whether you mark Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, or simply cherish time with loved ones, we hope this season brings you peace. And to those of you who will continue to be there day and night for patients, we thank you deeply.

A favourite traditional tune of mine is The 12 Days of Christmas. I’ll borrow that melody as a light-hearted frame to highlight some key achievements of the SGFP in 2025, how we were successful in moving the needle for family medicine. Even if the song isn’t part of your own tradition, I hope the spirit of celebration and gratitude resonates with you.

We know this year has not always felt like carols and candles. Pressures on access, compensation, and patient care remain heavy, and the daily realities of practice can feel more like “12 hours of juggling” than “12 days of Christmas.” Please know that SGFP is firmly in your corner. Every policy paper, negotiation, and community visit has been about amplifying your voice, easing the load, and ensuring family medicine is valued as the heart of Ontario’s health system. These gifts are not abstract, they are meant to bring tangible support to you, your patients, and your communities.

Optimizing our limited budget, we’re proud of how much we’ve accomplished. Here are our 12 gifts to family medicine this year:

1. A seat at the negotiations table: Unprecedented input, growing respect for our voice, and engagement where it matters. The compensation challenges you raised were heard, and your concerns are shaping decisions directly.
2. Keystone Paper: Advocating for the incredible value you bring to the system and the well-being of Ontarians. Your work is recognized as essential.
3. Return on Education study: Resulting in compensation increases, with more to come. Your years of training are being valued fairly.
4. Four new policy papers and related summaries: Clear, credible advocacy tools you can point to.
5. Five (golden) community visits: We came to you, to see the realities of your practices and communities. Your lived experience guides our advocacy.
6. Digital Health principles for family medicine: 20 principles endorsed by system partners. Your needs are shaping digital health policy.
7. 43 Chair’s Letters issued: Keeping you updated on the issues that matter. Plus hundreds of individual replies to your comments on our letters. You’re never left in the dark.
8. Advancing compensation and payment models: This year we introduced FHO+ as a first step toward more sustainable practice structures, and pressed for PPC fee increases to ensure fairness across models. Your compensation reflects your work more accurately.
9. “Let’s Talk Billing” webinars: After unprecedented participation (>1300 members) in our November 2025 webinar, we have planned nine monthly Q&A sessions open to all family medicine payment models for 2026. Practical tools to help you navigate billing with confidence and clarity.
10. System partnerships and alliances: Government increasingly sees us as a respected voice as we strengthen relationships with PCAT (Primary Care Action Team) and OH (Ontario Health). This year we also strengthened relationships with OCFP, helping unify the voice of family medicine. Your profession speaks with greater clarity, alignment and influence.
11. SGFP on-call: Engaging 1:1 to hear your concerns, realities, and solutions. Your voice is heard directly. (Stay tuned for 2026 dates.)
12. Governance and advocacy teams: Seven Executive and 13 physician members on Tariff, Policy, and Digital Health Teams. Your colleagues beating the drum for you every day.

As we turn the page to 2026, we’ll keep carrying the drumbeat for family medicine, ensuring your work is recognized, respected, and supported. Happy holidays and thank you for all you do for patients and communities across Ontario.

Warm Regards,

Dr. Dave Barber

Chair, SGFP

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