July 2025 - Page 2 of 2 - Ontario Physiotherapy Association

OPA Welcomes PT Student

July 15, 2025

OPA welcomed McMaster PT student Sarah Pelech on June 9 for a 7-week placement. She is already very engaged in:

updating the new to practice toolkit for OPA’s website

Writing a summary report of the recent scope of practice survey to support advocacy for expanded diagnostic imaging privileges, and

Conducting research to support the integration of physiotherapists into new hip and knee fracture clinics

This is Sarah’s second clinical placement. She is not only working part-time with OPA but also completing an acute care placement at Hamilton General Hospital Short Stay Medicine unit.

Sarah is passionate about accessible care, health equity, and the role of physiotherapy in health education and advocacy. She is interested in learning more about what it means to be involved in the OPA, and excited to be a part of the team!

Want to do a PT Placement at OPA?

OPA offers clinical placements for Ontario programs that are eligible based on catchment area. Contact your school’s clinical placement advisor for information.

Rehabilitation Services related to ICHSC Hip & Knee Procedures

July 15, 2025

Background: What Are ICHSCs?

Integrated Community Health Service Centres (ICHSCs) are a new model of community-based, publicly funded surgical and diagnostic care, initiated by the Ontario government in early 2023. These centres aim to increase access to timely, high-quality surgical procedures such as cataract surgeries, MRI/CT imaging, and orthopedic surgeries—including hip and knee replacements—by shifting select procedures out of hospitals and into independent community-based facilities. The goal is to reduce surgical backlogs, improve wait times, and enhance patient outcomes through integrated and coordinated care.

Why It Matters to Physiotherapists and Communities

This shift has important implications for physiotherapists and communities across Ontario as community based surgical centres open their doors to patients. As ICHSCs become operational, there will be a need for community-based physiotherapists to provide post operative rehabilitative care following surgery. This post-operative service model is different from the hospital-based model.

For communities, particularly those facing long surgical wait times or lacking local hospital resources, ICHSCs offer an alternative opportunity for more rapid care, but it is critical to ensure that post-operative physiotherapy is appropriately integrated. Ensuring that physiotherapy is included and appropriately funded as a core component of care in these centres is vital for maintaining health system quality and equity across Ontario.

OPA’s Work and Current Information

For some time, the Ontario Physiotherapy Association (OPA) has been seeking clarity from the Ministry of Health regarding how post-hip and knee replacement rehabilitation will be funded in the forthcoming Integrated Community Health Service Centres (ICHSCs). ICHSCs will be responsible for providing post-surgical rehabilitation care to patients who clinically require it, and this care must be funded from within the bundled facility fee paid by the Ministry ($6,530 per hip replacement and $5,797 per knee replacement).

As part of the application process, prospective licensees are required to demonstrate partnerships with rehabilitation providers. This may include out-of-hospital rehabilitation, in-house physiotherapy services, and home-based rehabilitation care. However, patients receiving care through an ICHSC are not eligible for one or more Episodes of Care under the Community Physiotherapy Clinic Program.

There is currently no provision or requirement for applicants to offer funded pre-operative physiotherapy. However, licensees are required to “organize appropriate pre-operative planning and assessment.”

Physiotherapists can expect to be approached in the coming days by applicants seeking to form agreements for the delivery of post-operative rehabilitation and potentially pre-operative planning and assessment for patients, contingent on the applicants’ success in securing a licence.

OPA will continue to monitor developments and advocate for the role of physiotherapy in this evolving healthcare landscape.

OPA Advocates for More Physiotherapists in Primary Care Teams

July 11, 2025

First contact roles for physiotherapists, who independently diagnose and manage musculoskeletal conditions, have demonstrated effectiveness in improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs. Despite their effectiveness in primary care, many primary care teams in Ontario do not have physiotherapists on staff.

Approximately 20-30% of primary care visits are for musculoskeletal conditions

Based on clinical experience in physiotherapy in primary care settings and suggested attachment rates for physicians, OPA estimates that a physiotherapist on an interprofessional primary care team can increase attachment rates by approximately 250 active patients, or 425 total rostered patients (on average).

Why This Matters

Physiotherapists are critical members of interprofessional primary care teams, and increasing the number of primary care physiotherapists in Ontario is an essential step towards improving health system capacity and bringing comprehensive and convenient care to more people in Ontario.

It also means that more physiotherapists will be able to work to their full scope of practice while spreading awareness among healthcare teams and communities about the role and value of physiotherapists.

How OPA Advocates

We are collaborating with primary care organizations and advocacy groups, which looks like:

Supporting proposals to help make the case for PTs joining the team

Supporting primary care organizations with recruitment and retention strategies

Collaborating with

the Primary Care Action Team

Ontario Health Teams

the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario

the Alliance for Healthier Communities

We are also:

Engaging directly with the Ontario Medical Association and the Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario

Adding useful materials to the Alliance of Healthier Communities Toolkit: Interprofessional Primary Care Team Expansion

Other supports from OPA at all points of development include:

Free educational modules to support PTs in primary care, developed through evidence-based and consensus processes – Preparing PTs for Team-based Primary Care

Consultation on applications to the Primary Care Action Team

Resources and individualized support for recruitment and retention, including job descriptions, compensation reports, interview guides, and free job postings.

Preparing PT’s for Team-based Primary Care

What is Going on Now

In April, the Primary Care Action Team announced a call for proposals to fund expansion of existing primary care teams or new teams in needed geographical areas. The goal of this funding opportunity is to connect more people in Ontario to primary care teams, ultimately to have every person connected within 4 years.

OPA’s support will continue through future cycles of funding, as having physiotherapists as part of the interprofessional primary care team is an essential step towards improving capacity and bringing connected and convenient care to more people in Ontario.

Read OPA’s letter to PCAT