FIT Testing: Member Concerns and Ongoing Work

Dear SGFP Members,

Over the past several months, many of you have contacted us regarding changes to Ontario's Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) program. Your feedback has helped us identify concerns, escalate issues quickly, and advocate for solutions that support safe patient care, and practical workflows in family medicine.

The FIT transition has highlighted a challenge we continue to encounter across the healthcare system: significant operational changes are often implemented without sufficient primary care physician professional organization physician involvement in design and planning.

Here is what we have seen so far:

• Early concerns about implementation: In June, we learned only weeks before go-live that FIT result delivery would transition from electronic notifications through LifeLabs to fax-based delivery through In-Common Laboratories (ICL). Given the limited notice and potential impact on practices, we advocated to Ontario Health for a temporary pause until safe workflows could be confirmed. While the transition proceeded as planned, we worked with Ontario Health (OH), OntarioMD, the OMA, and the OCFP to implement additional safeguards, including redundant notification processes and direct phone calls for positive results during the transition period. We also advocated (including direct outreach to vendors) to push for expedited digital integration. 
• Patient safety concerns during rollout: As the new process was implemented, members alerted us to cases where positive FIT results were not reaching physician offices. We immediately raised these concerns with OH, and worked with them, and with affected members, to identify root causes and close gaps. I would like to thank our colleagues at OH for their excellent response time and deep engagement on to resolve this issue quickly.
• Ongoing advocacy: We continue to engage with Ontario Health and our partners to push for reliable electronic result delivery and workflows that support both patient safety and practice efficiency.

What This Means for You Right Now

Ontario Health has released additional information regarding the FIT transition, which can be accessed here.

We also remind members that each practice location must have a verified fax number on file in order to receive FIT results from ICL: each physician must have a verified number for each practice, and each individual physician within a single practice must verify the fax number if needed (ICL is sending faxes to those who require verification, please complete the form and send back asap - this is a lab accreditation requirement.) We recognize this adds to the administrative burden on already busy practices, but it remains important to ensure continuity of result delivery during the transition.

Listen: Medical Safety Podcast

This week, I joined our Chief Physician Officer, Digital Health, Dr. Kevin Brophy, on the Medical Safety Podcast to discuss the FIT transition, the concerns raised by family physicians, and SGFP's advocacy on this file. We also explored what meaningful physician engagement and co-design should look like when system changes affect community-based practices. Listen here.

A Broader Lesson

The experiences of the past several months reinforce a message we continue to bring forward: family physicians need to be involved earlier in the design and implementation of system change. Whether the issue is digital health, diagnostic testing, or primary care transformation, physician input is most valuable from the early planning phases and before decisions are finalized, not after implementation begins.

Thank you for continuing to share your experiences and concerns with us. Your feedback helps us identify emerging issues and advocate for practical solutions on your behalf.

As always, we are here to support you so that you can focus on caring for your patients.

‍

Warm Regards,

Dr. Dave Barber, Chair, SGFP

Follow SGFP on LinkedIn

‍