About 70 per cent of family doctors in private practices and medical clinics in BC can access $118 million in temporary funding this fall to help with operating costs, the province and Doctors of BC announced in Vancouver on Wednesday. The short-term “stabilization” funding, about $25,000 per doctor, will be available from Oct. 1 to Jan. 31, 2023, with applications opening in September. Funding goes to family doctors who provide ongoing services to their patients and pay overhead, as well as primary care clinics – including clinics – that commit to staying open and maintaining fixed clinic hours. It is estimated that the funding will benefit 3,480 family doctors who have their own practices and 1,100 family doctors who work in clinics – more than 70 per cent of family doctors working in the province. BC Health Minister Adrian Dix said the Ministry of Health is working closely with Doctors of BC, a voluntary association representing 14,000 doctors, residents and medical students, on the issue of rising operating costs that are impacting family doctors’ ability to provide patient care. Overhead costs can be as high as $100.00 per year, doctors say. “This interim stabilization funding for family physicians is a key action to support their patient care as we work to finalize a long-term solution this fall,” Dix said. The province and Doctors of BC are negotiating a new master physician agreement, including new reimbursement models to be announced in the fall. Broad agreements have been reached on key elements of the new payment model, including the time family physicians spend providing primary care services, patient complexity, and patient adherence to physicians. Most family doctors in BC are paid through a fee-for-service model in which doctors receive a base amount of about $32 per patient visit. Doctors who like the model want to be better compensated for their time, paperwork and overhead. The Department of Health has also increased options for salary and contract positions and clinics run by health authorities, where doctors are not responsible for overheads. The interim funding announced Wednesday was developed in conjunction with Doctors of BC, who will provide the applications. Dix said the process is not complicated and doctors will receive immediate payments. The Ministry of Health is also developing measures to improve access to primary care, including improving the recruitment and retention of health care providers and providing additional resources to increase training capacity. The funding includes $75 million from the Department of Health and $43 million from the General Practice Services Commission, a collaborative committee co-chaired by the Department of Health and Doctors of BC. Dr. Ramneek Dosanjh, president of Doctors of BC, said it’s an important first step in helping doctors keep their practices open “until we can develop a new payment model” for physician retention and recruitment. Dosanjh said Doctors of BC has heard from doctors that interim funding is a much-needed step to stop “the bleeding … we can’t allow clinic closings to continue at the rate they’ve been.” There is still much work to be done on the new payment model that recognizes the pressures of rising business costs and the time and complexity required to provide chronic patient care, Dosanjh said. In April, the province provided $3.46 million to keep five clinics open in the South Island, although the funding could not prevent three more from closing the same month. Dr. Ian Bridger, medical director for about five family practice clinics in the capital region, called the short-term funding announced on Wednesday “welcome news for poor family doctors whose overheads have risen dramatically but their income has not.” “We need more doctors now, and making the job attractive is a good start,” Bridger said. “The next thing we need is the ability to get them to BC with less fuss, less cost and more speed, as the current process is mired in red tape and unrealistic fees.” BC Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon said the $118 million in funding won’t be enough to address the challenges facing family practice, calling it “a timid, tiny first step in the right direction.” Doctors are leaving family practice, said Falcon, who is frustrated that the province is moving “so very slowly” on the issue. BC Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau said her party asked for funding to support doctors’ overhead earlier this year. “What took so long?” Furstenau asked, noting the closures that have occurred in the meantime. About one million people in B.C. and up to 100,000 in the South Island have no family doctor. [email protected]
