Health Minister Adrian Dix and President of Doctors of BC, Dr. Ramneek Dosanjh, revealed the “first steps” at a press conference on Wednesday. The funds will be used to support family physicians and medical clinics with operational business expenses. The program will start on October 1 and will be available for four months only, until January 31, 2023.
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The funding is part of the first of what the province describes as a “transformational” multi-phase approach to “help protect and improve BC’s health care system͛”. Dix said he will also announce a new reimbursement model for family doctors in the fall and hopes that will encourage more doctors to choose family practices. Story continues below ad “Ensuring the continuity of primary care that British Columbians need means supporting BC’s family physicians in ways that help them provide the quality care that patients rely on,” he said. “Rising operational costs are impacting their ability to provide patient care and we are working closely with Doctors of BC to find solutions. This interim stabilization funding to GPs is a key action to support their patient care as we work to finalize a long-term solution this autumn.” 1:59 Sechelt family doctors seek financial help amid rising clinic costs Sechelt family doctors seek financial help amid rising clinic costs – August 15, 2022 Doctors of BC is an association of 14,000 physicians, residents and medical students in the province. Its representatives have been meeting with Dix for months to develop solutions to a range of challenges, including rising overhead costs, stagnant wages and a fee-for-service model. On August 13, 16 doctors in Sechelt wrote a letter to the provincial government stating that their professional expenses have “increased exponentially” while their salaries have not, hindering their ability to pay their staff living wages and jeopardizing the care of their patients. patients. Story continues below ad “Our fee structure ignores the increased patient volume and complexity amid a steadily growing population on the Sunshine Coast,” the letter said. “We contribute a significant percentage of our personal income to cover overheads and continued increases are simply not sustainable.” Trending Stories
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Read more: With stagnant wages and rising costs, 16 Sechelt doctors are asking BC government for help.
The new funding includes 75 million dollars from the P.K.E. Ministry of Health. and $43 million from the General Practice Services Committee, a collaborative committee co-chaired by the ministry and Doctors of BC established through the master physician agreement. Funding is available to family doctors who provide ongoing services to patients and pay overhead. Primary care clinics, including walk-in clinics, that commit to staying open and maintaining fixed clinic hours can also apply for funding on behalf of the clinic and its doctors. About 3,480 family doctors who have their own practices and 1,100 family doctors who work in clinics are expected to receive funds, representing more than 70 percent of family doctors working in B.C. 2:02 Victorian woman living with chronic pain struggles to find treatment Victorian woman living with chronic pain struggles to find treatment – August 16, 2022 “This is an important first step in helping doctors keep their offices open for patients for a period of four months until we have a longer-term solution to the very real problems in primary care,” said Dosanjh. Story continues below ad “There is still hard work ahead of us to achieve a new payment model that recognizes the pressures of rising business costs and that recognizes the value of family physicians and the time and complexity of providing chronic care to patients. We want to make sure everyone has a family doctor who can provide them with the quality care they need and deserve.” In an internal memo to Physicians of BC members, Dosanjh said the funds would average $27,000 per physician over the four-month period. Clinics could receive about $17,000 per physician. He said he expects a new payment model to be in place by the end of next January.
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Dix has previously said the province needs to create simpler contracting models that give doctors options to move between fee-for-service and public health care models. According to the health minister, since 2017, alternative payments to doctors whose services are not provided through fee-for-service models have increased from $500 million to about $750 million — an increase of about 15 percent each year over the past three years . In the internal memo, Dosanjh said the payment model under construction would allow doctors to bill for the time they provide primary care services, recognizing the extra time they spend with more complex patients and on clinical administrative services. Story continues below ad Doctors will also be able to charge for each patient encounter and each connected patient, recognizing their complexity, incentivizing doctors “with larger and more complex patient panels.” 2:08 BC Greens ask province to release report on private fee-based health care plans Greens ask province to release report on private fee-based health care plans – August 9, 2022 Meanwhile, BC continues to work to attract new domestic and international doctors. About 38,000 new employees have joined the province’s health care system, including 600 new doctors, in the past five years, Dix said. The ministry took 84 measures to increase surgeries during the pandemic, he added. Almost 1 million British Columbians do not have a family doctor. © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
