B.C.’s new fee mannequin for household physicians got here into impact on Wednesday, giving medical doctors the choice to get rid of the previous price system reported to have pushed new recruits and veterans alike away from the job.
The brand new framework permits physicians to scrap the present fee-for-service system that noticed them paid a flat price per affected person go to and be paid as an alternative for a spread of duties that include the job.
“I imagine it is essentially the most important reform to main care in my lifetime within the historical past of the general public health-care system,” Well being Minister Adrian Dix stated at a information convention outlining the modifications.
“It addresses inequities in compensation, serving to to draw and retain household physicians and due to this fact enhance the variety of physicians in a position to present care to individuals in B.C.”
By means of the fee-for-service system, medical doctors are paid round $30 per affected person go to — irrespective of whether or not they’re treating a easy widespread chilly or a fancy continual well being situation.
B.C.’s new mannequin, referred to as the longitudinal household doctor (LFP) fee mannequin, sees medical doctors compensated the variety of sufferers they see day by day and the complexity of their wants.
The province stated it means household physicians will probably be paid for further time with sufferers, particularly those that want extra help — like seniors or sufferers with psychological well being circumstances.
They will even be paid for time spent on different crucial duties like reviewing lab outcomes, consulting with different medical professionals, updating affected person lists and medical administrative work.
“As we speak is a brand new day for household physicians to have alternative to supply the care that they’ve all the time needed to do and haven’t been in a position to,” stated Medical doctors of B.C. president Dr. Joshua Greggain, calling the mannequin “transformational.”
Dix stated 1,043 of roughly 4,000 eligible medical doctors from all 5 well being authorities signed up for the brand new mannequin on the primary day. He anticipated the quantity to develop “considerably” in coming days and weeks.
Most household medical doctors in B.C. are unbiased contractors and run their practices as companies, paying for overhead prices similar to workplace house and employees and medical tools. The worth of working a apply has pushed many potential physicians to decide on different areas of drugs.
The School of Household Physicians of Canada referred to as in 2020 for different funding fashions to switch the fee-for-service methodology to raised help continuity of care and cease household medical doctors from leaving their jobs.
Beneath the brand new framework, the typical household doctor in B.C. will see a elevate from roughly $250,000 to round $385,000.
The variety of individuals with out a household physician in B.C. greater than doubled from 2003 to 2017. The scarcity of household medical doctors within the province has left a burden on different areas of well being care, like pressing care centres and emergency rooms.
One in 5 residents did not have a basic practitioner within the latter yr, although Dix anticipated the quantity would rise.