[Feed Swap] The Intersection Between Primary & Emergency Room Care with Dr. Anton Helman & Dr. Danielle Martin

Is the primary care access problem the cause for ED overcrowding?


Do emergency rooms have to be the safety net in our system - or is there another way?

How can primary care and emergency medicine better collaborate?

While the Primary Focus team takes a brief summer break, we are sharing a special crossover episode from Emergency Medicine Cases. Host Dr. Anton Helman sits down with Dr. Tara Kiran and Dr. Danielle Martin to talk about the place where primary and emergency care meet. Together, they unpack common myths and discuss how  integrated call-first triage, shared digital records, and an educated public can help us build a better system for everyone.

(Note: This episode was recorded in October 2025, prior to Dr. Danielle Martin’s election as Member of Parliament for University-Rosedale.The views and opinions expressed by Dr. Martin in this discussion were her own at the time of recording and do not represent or reflect the views, policies, or positions of the Government of Canada.)

Listen to the full conversation on EM Cases on their podcast feed (search “Emergency Medicine Cases” on your favourite app.

View a one-page summary of the conversation produced by EM Cases

Listen to our previous interview with Dr. Danielle Martin

Read more about the Dutch model of primary care or listen to our 4-part series on primary care in The Netherlands

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Have an idea for an episode? Email primary.focus@unityhealth.to

Tara Kiran is a family physician and researcher who is passionate about building a stronger, more equitable primary care system in Canada. She practices at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto where she is also a scientist at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions. In 2022, Dr. Kiran launched OurCare, a national initiative to engage the public in shaping the future of primary care in Canada. 

Primary Focus receives financial support from the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, the St. Michael’s Foundation, and the Max Bell Foundation. Dr. Tara Kiran is supported as the Fidani Chair in Improvement and Innovation at the University of Toronto and a Scientist in the Departments of Family and Community Medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto.

Original Emergency Medicine Cases Show Notes:

There are few things more frustrating for an Emergency Physician than caring for patient after patient who lands in the ED not because it’s necessarily the best place for their care, but because every other door in the health care system was closed, confusing or impossible to find. Emergency Medicine and Primary Care often operate in different worlds—one built around rapid diagnosis and uncertainty, the other around continuity and prevention—but our patients move constantly between the two. In this special EM Cases podcast, EM–Primary Care Health Systems Strategies, we step outside the usual ED lens with Dr. Tara Kiran (host of the Primary Focus podcast) and Dr. Danielle Martin to ask how we can deliver the right care, in the right place, at the right time. We challenge assumptions about what drives ED use and explore team-based primary care, after-hours cooperatives, call-first triage, virtual care, information sharing and warm handoffs. Drawing on models from Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark and elsewhere, we finish with practical strategies to reduce fragmentation, improve continuity and make the system work better for patients and providers. 

Please consider a donation to EM Cases to support our mission of providing high quality free open access medical education here: https://emergencymedicinecases.com/donation/. 

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded in October 2025, prior to Dr. Danielle Martin becoming a candidate for government office. The views and opinions expressed by Dr. Martin in this discussion were her own at the time of recording and do not represent or reflect the views, policies, or positions of the Government of Canada.