10,000 Islanders will gain access to primary care with UPEI's medical home, says Health P.E.I.

The medical home that's expected to open this fall at UPEI's new medical school will take about 10,000 patients off the find a family doctor or nurse practitioner registry within two years, says Health P.E.I.

Medical homes offer a wide range of services, with doctors collaborating with other health-care workers. They have been touted by the province as a way to alleviate pressure on the health-care system.

The UPEI medical home will include seven providers, such as family medicine specialists, nurse practitioners, staff and other health-care professionals, said Melanie Fraser, the health authority's CEO.

"We are targeting to have that patient medical home up and running October 2025," she told a legislative standing committee meeting on Wednesday.

"It will take a couple of years to get it to full maturity, to hire all the staff, but at full maturity it should be able to accommodate about 10,000 patients from the registry," Fraser said.

As of July 31, 2024, there were almost 35,000 people on the province's registry.

UPEI's medical school will integrate patient medical homes into its curriculum, Fraser said.

"We are the only medical school in Canada where medical students will experience team-based primary care in that kind of role modelling from day one and every day. It's really going to be a remarkable opportunity," she said.

The opportunity to work in an academic setting is attractive to many providers, Fraser said in an interview following the committee meeting.

The new medical school is a "fantastic recruiting tool," she said, and close to 70 physicians have expressed interest in teaching.

"We're having physicians who are coming to tour the Island wanting to see the patient medical home, wanting to see our new medical school and looking at P.E.I. as a place to practise," Fraser said.

When faculty and professors are recruited to teach at the medical school, they are cross-appointed in the health-care system, Fraser said.

"We benefit from anyone who's coming here to teach," she said.

More medical homes 

The province's goal was to have 30 medical homes by the end of 2024, Premier Dennis King said during the last provincial election campaign. There are currently 17 medical homes in the province.

The province's new mental health campus will include patient medical homes.

The 50,000-square foot Queens County Community Health Centre is to include two patient medical homes on the first floor with five primary care providers each.

A tender has been issued for another health-care building to go up on this site.

The second floor is to house community mental health and addiction services, including outpatient withdrawal services and community psychiatry.

Construction is set to begin this spring, with completion expected sometime in 2027.