Overview

• Physicians can now order tests and treat illnesses or injuries for family members and close contacts when no alternative provider or virtual service is available within a reasonable distance.
• Ongoing personal care, intimate examinations and narcotics prescriptions for relatives or friends remain prohibited except in emergency situations.
• The revised guidelines were quietly posted on the CPSO website in May and detailed in the college’s June digital publication.
• Regulators cited chronic physician shortages in remote and Indigenous communities as a key factor driving the expansion of treatment allowances.
• The Ontario government has pledged a $2.1 billion investment to connect every resident with a family physician and strengthen primary care infrastructure.