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Bolu Ogunyemi, MD, dermatologist from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, is the new president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). He is the first Black president in the CMA’s history and is among its youngest. He recently talked with Medscape News Canada about his priorities for his term, his concerns about the health system, and the CMA’s recommended solutions.

What is your main priority for your term as CMA president?

Many of my priorities are interwoven, and success in one area will help to move other initiatives closer to the finish line. A major priority is improving access to quality healthcare that is equitable, timely, patient-centered, and safe. While there are gaps in care in many services in Canada, there is robust evidence that improved access to primary care leads to improved health outcomes and long-term reductionof healthcare costs. Equitable access to care from family physicians increases the ability to provide preventive medicine, implement screening, and manage diseases at earlier stages before downstream complications ensue. Access to care is particularly important for underserved patients and communities, including individuals in rural and remote parts of Canada, as well as Indigenous communities who suffer considerable health inequities.

What are some of your other priorities?

Supporting health equity is a major priority. Reducing Indigenous health inequities through Indigenous-led solutions is key to achieving this goal. Other priorities include reducing administrative burden and improving physician wellness; supporting socially accountable, climate-conscious health systems; and supporting community-based care.

A CMA statement quotes you as saying, ‘Patients heal from illness in a hospital but truly become well in their communities. We need greater support for community-based practice to enable doctors to meet patients where they are.’ What would such support look like?

Because care in a family physician’s office is often preferable to care in a hospital ward or emergency room, investing in environments in which family physicians are valued is critical. Many patients prefer care to be delivered in the community when possible because it is more accessible and provides a sense of warmth with less of an institutionalized feel. I have many patients who have experienced trauma in hospitals and greatly prefer that the same care be provided in the community. Community-based clinics tend to be more flexible, nimbler, and more receptive to tailoring practices based on patient preference and feedback than tertiary centers.

It’s important to note that most family physicians work in community-based practices where they are required to hire staff; purchase supplies; and pay rent, utilities, and the cost of transporting specimens. Support with this overhead would go a long way in the recruitment and retention of family physicians. Certainly, the type of support for community-based care will vary from practice to practice across the country.

What are some of your concerns about the health system?

If supporting the spread of trusted and accessible health information is “offense,” then protecting against false health information can be considered “defense.” Misinformation is an emerging concern, with the widespread use of AI. We expect the government to regulate food, drugs, and consumer products to protect the health of the public. I think that it should do the same with social media and AI. We need strong legislation at the federal level to prevent online harms, including those caused by false health information.

At the CMA, we have been advocating for the federal government to create, enact, and enforce policy related to online harm. In supporting an Online Harms Act, I hope to see accountability for spreading false health information because this negatively affects the way patients make decisions about their health.

Other concerns include healthcare’s impact on the environment and ensuring that there are sufficient human resources to sustainably provide healthcare at present, taking impending demographic changes into account. We need to ensure that healthcare delivery remains based on need and not ability to pay, or else existing health inequalities will be exacerbated.

What is the CMA doing to provide useful, true, and accessible health information to the public?

CMA tracks and reports on false health information through research, funding health journalism, and breaking down complex health issues through the Healthcare for Real initiative. With leadership from Sophie Nadeau [vice president of CMA Media], Max Mosher [projects manager at CMA Media], and others at the CMA, this initiative meets folks where they are by providing wide-ranging health-related content on Instagram and other platforms.

Also, the CMA Media network, which is chaired by Katharine Smart, MD, and supported by many CMA staff, is made up of physicians who have an aptitude for health communication as well as a desire to change or correct, where necessary, the public discourse on health issues.

You mentioned reducing family physicians’ administrative burden as a priority. How can this be achieved?

Family doctors, because they are often the first point of entry into the medical system and need to interact with many parts of the health system, are particularly affected by increased administrative burden. One area is electronic health records. Like many doctors, I spend many hours each week locating, collecting, and re-entering health data across health record [systems] that don’t speak to each other. CMA has been advocating for the passage of Bill S-5, which is known as the Connected Care for Canadians Act. Administrative burden contributes to burnout and reduces face-to-face time when we could be seeing patients directly.

Filling out forms is another administrative burden. To help with this, the CMA has been advocating for changes in the disability tax credit for many years and welcomes the recent changes by the federal government that allow more health professionals besides just physicians to be allowed to complete the form. This [change] frees more time for physicians to see patients. It can also allow for more relevant healthcare providers, such as physiotherapists or occupational therapists (ie, someone who is seeing the patient regularly), to fill out these forms.

What would you like your legacy as CMA president to be?

We need to make sure that innovations, including electronic health records, AI, and technologies that support virtual care, do so in a way that reduces inequities rather than exacerbates them. I have experience at the interfaces of health equity and innovative care delivery, and I hope to further this during my time as president. A health equity lens is necessary to design, implement, and assess health delivery so that everyone benefits.