Improving attachment will take more than expanding the workforce. Ocean Care Networks support centralized attachment intake and waitlists across clinics, plus centralized outbound referral management—helping teams reduce administrative work and improve access to care.
Across Canada, primary care attachment has become an urgent, system-wide priority. But ensuring everyone can access ongoing primary care will take more than simply adding more clinicians. Many provinces and regions are pursuing a multi-pronged approach that includes:
- Care team-based models so patients can be supported by the most appropriate professional
- Reducing administrative burden so clinicians can focus on care
- Centralizing high-volume administrative functions for efficiency and consistency
- Leveraging technology to reduce manual effort and back-and-forth for both patients and clinic staff
In this post, we’ll share why attachment is a national challenge, and how Ocean Care Networks help regions and clinic groups centralize attachment and referrals across multiple sites, while still supporting efficient intake at the clinic level.
Our primary care attachment problem
Across the country, the number of unattached patients remains significant. The CMA’s OurCare Survey 2025 estimates 5.9 million adults in Canada still don’t have reliable access to a regular family doctor, nurse practitioner, or primary care team.
When people don’t have access to ongoing primary care, the impacts are felt across the system, from delayed preventive care and chronic disease management to increased pressure on emergency departments and walk-in services.
While clinician availability is core to the challenge, capacity is also shaped by how much time primary care teams spend on administrative work. From managing inquiries by phone, email, or paper forms, to following up for clarifications and corrections, patient intake and attachment efforts can quickly become a full-time job. That’s why many jurisdictions are investing not only in workforce and care team models, but also in centralized administrative approaches and digital workflows that help teams do more with the capacity they already have.
5.9M Adults in Canada without a family doctor
1 in 4 of 18-34 year olds are unattached
2029 Ontario's goal for 100% attachment
Where Ocean comes in: Ocean Care Networks
From the beginning, Ocean was built with primary care in mind, supporting both patients and providers and connecting workflows across disconnected systems. With Ocean Care Networks (OCNs), we’re extending that capability from a single clinic to groups of clinics working together as a coordinated network.
OCNs provide shared tools for two high-impact, network-level workflows:
- Centralized primary care attachment intake and waitlist management across clinics
- Centralized outbound referral management across teams and sites
This matters because attachment and access are often regional coordination problems. A clinic-by-clinic approach can lead to duplicated work, inconsistent prioritization, and unnecessary back-and-forth for patients. Centralizing intake and routing helps teams manage demand and capacity across a network more consistently and efficiently.
OCN Solution 1
Centralized attachment (OCN Patient Form Management)
A single “front door” intake form can feed a centralized queue managed by a central team. That team can review submissions, assess patient history, and route patients for attachment based on availability and priority, while maintaining consistent criteria and documentation across member clinics.
This approach helps networks:
- Maintain a centralized waitlist for unattached patients
- Standardize intake and review processes
- Route patients based on capacity and prioritization
- Reduce administrative burden at individual clinics
- Improve patient communication with secure messaging and fewer follow-ups
- Support streamlined onboarding, including automatic patient chart creation
OCN Solution 2
Centralized outbound referral management (OCN Referral Management)
The same Care Network can also centrally manage outbound referrals across teams and sites. A central team can complete, route, and follow up on referrals, including missing information or declined referrals. This reduces the burden on clinicians and clinic staff, while helping patients access the right care sooner and closer to home.
Key benefits:
- Reduced administrative burden for referring providers
- Standardized service requests across the network
- Improved collaboration with provider messaging
- Network-level visibility, analytics, and reporting
- Better patient visibility while reducing calls
Closing thoughts
Across Canada, improving attachment will require coordinated solutions: care team capacity, streamlined admin, centralized functions, and technology that reduces manual effort. Ocean Care Networks help clinic groups and regions centralize attachment workflows and referral management across multiple sites so teams can share workload, standardize processes, and connect more patients to care.
If you’re exploring centralized attachment or referral management across multiple clinics, reach out to learn more about Ocean Care Networks. If you’re starting at the clinic level, Streamline new patient intake with Ocean is a good first step.
References and further reading
- CMA: OurCare Survey 2025 (access to primary care)
- CIHI: Emergency department visits for primary care conditions
- Statistics Canada: Access to a regular health care provider (2023)
- Ontario: Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan (connect everyone by 2029)
Explore Ocean Care Networks
Connect with our sales team to discuss how Care Networks can scale patient attachment workflows.
