New Patient Information
Joining a FHO Practice. What Does it Mean to You?
Dr Wael Guirguis & associates are part of a FHO (Family Health Organization). Family Health Organization (FHO) is a group of family doctors who work together giving you the best care and quality services. FHOs provide care during regular office hours and access to THAS (after hours phone services available 24 hours/ day).
The enrolled patients must commit to receiving their primary health care Monday-Friday from their primary physician. Additionally, as a patient of an FHO, you will have access to referrals to specialists and having your doctor informed of your care both in and out of the hospital.
Periodically, we receive a list from the Ministry of Health of our registered patients who have used the services of other family physicians or general practitioners (GPs). Each time any of our patient visits another primary care provider (e.g; Walk-in clinic, or another family doctor ), our clinic is billed by the ministry. That does not include emergency room visits or specialists visits.
Walk-in clinics may be convenient, but their care quality is limited as they do not have access to your medical records.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care sees FHOs as a cost effective way to provide quality health care in Ontario. Please DO NOT access primary care from other walk-in clinics as this reduces the quality of your health care. Other walk-in clinics rarely send records to your doctor after your visit. This leads to a duplication of services performed as often patients need to see their primary family doctor for the same medical problem.
Furthermore, many patients may not know that under our agreement with the Ministry, our fees are deducted for visits by patients to family doctors outside of our FHO.
For after-hours medical assistance, you can speak to a nurse anytime through Telehealth 1-866-553-7205 (TTY: 1-866-250-3379)