CEO Strategic Leadership Series
Primary care across Canada and the US is breaking under the weight of demand, administrative overload, and clinician burnout. Wait times are rising, practice closures are accelerating, and new graduates are avoiding primary care entirely.
The result: hundreds of thousands of patients without stable access — a crisis that will worsen over the next decade.
The solution is not simply more doctors. It requires a rebuild of the primary care model.
Four forces make the current model unsustainable:
1. Volume-pressure mismatch
Demand growth far exceeds clinician availability.
2. Administrative overload
Clinicians spend more time documenting than diagnosing.
3. Compensation misalignment
Fee-for-service models reward volume, not continuity or prevention.
4. Consumer behaviour shift
Patients now seek episodic care, virtual visits, and asynchronous support.
A post-PCP model will integrate:
• Interdisciplinary teams
• AI-supported triage and documentation
• Retail-clinic partnerships
• Virtual-first care workflows
• Population health segmentation
• Advanced care navigation tools
Health systems that redesign primary care now will avoid collapse later.
How Arcus Can Help
Arcus builds next-generation primary-care models, redesigns staffing frameworks, integrates AI triage, and develops population-based care strategies.
Next step: Engage Arcus for a Primary Care Future-State Blueprint.
Arcus offers clients a unique combination of fact-based industry knowledge and superior functional expertise. Our consultants have an average of over 22 years experience, twice the industry average. Find out more about our growth, change management and operations services.
At Arcus we believe that a strategy is only as good as the results it delivers. Strategic outcomes are most predictable and effective when companies develop a portfolio of initiatives that are aligned with core competencies and aligned activities enable the company to offer a superior value proposition.
Please contact Arcus for case studies and to discuss how we can help you.
Service coverage
The variety, breadth, and depth of the projects where Arcus can be a resource are made unique by each client’s specific needs. By providing a very small sample of projects we’ve completed, we can help you understand how and when to use our services. Visit the links below to find out more about a specific problem or opportunity you would like to address.
Below is a sample of the range of services that Arcus has provided to clients.
- A survey of 2,350 consumers and 1,320 business leaders for feedback on sustainability trends
- Architecting a multi-year change strategy for a Fortune 500 company
- Mentoring a CEO on organizational change
- Excellence transformation of a leading B2B services company
- Creating a new sales deployment model for a healthcare company
- Developing a position evaluation and compensation model for a professional medical association
- Improving services to customer segments by deepening their understanding of customer attitudes
“Arcus manages to consistently deliver tangible results on market research and strategy projects. They combine deep business expertise, powerful research capabilities, and innovative thinking to deliver substantial value.”
– Vice President, Nikon
Data Dashboards
- Empower your decision-making with comprehensive, trusted data.
- Gain actionable insights with access to real-time Canadian consumer, business and sector spending and location data.
- Inform economic policy, investments, sales deployment and strategic plans by looking at trends across different industries and regions in Canada.
- Influence your businesses’ future growth plans by understanding consumer behaviour
Media Coverage
Arcus has been quoted extensively in media on a range of topics and can offer research studies, insights and ideas. Here are some examples from the Globe and Mail, BNN, CTV, Global TV and others.
- Federal budget – Canada’s GDP and Canadian businesses – BNN
- Economies are on different tracks: USMCA renegotiations – BNN
- Klarna on the evolution of digital payment tech – BNN
- Canada’s retail sector round up – BNN
- Buy now, pay later will become a $950M industry in Canada – BNN
- Nordstrom countdown to opening begins – Toronto Star
- No lineups outside stores in five years – BNN
- Black Friday retail, marketing, and cross-border shopping trends – BNN
- Does global expansion need a local flavour? – Globe and Mail
- Art of the Pitch – Protect company’s interests when approaching giants – Globe and Mail
- Off-the-shelf technology or a custom design? – Globe and Mail