Doctors across Canada eyeing changes to B.C. family physician pay with cautious optimism
Global News
Health practitioners across Canada are closely watching a promised overhaul of B.C.'s payment model for family doctors – changes that some say are a 'step in the right direction.'
Health-care practitioners across Canada are closely watching a promised overhaul of British Columbia’s payment model for family doctors – changes that some say are a “step in the right direction” toward addressing a “crisis” in family medicine.
The new system, announced earlier this week, moves away from the traditional ‘fee-for-service’ model of payment for family doctors, which pays a flat fee of about $30 for each patient visit, regardless of the severity or complexity of the case.
When the new model is implemented in February, factors such as the amount of time a doctor spends with a patient, the number of patients a doctor sees daily, administrative costs and the number of patients a doctor has in their practice will be taken into account.
It will mean a big pay raise for family doctors in B.C., who will earn on average about $385,000 annually, up from the current $250,000.
While the finer details of these changes and how they will roll out are not yet fully known, Dr. Lawrence Loh, CEO and executive director of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), says it appears to be a positive move toward addressing calls for governments to recognize the more complex needs of patients seen by family doctors in recent years.
“It seems to be a step in the right direction,” Loh said.
“We recognize that the care that patients need – especially in our aging population, especially post the COVID-19 pandemic – is increasingly complex and challenging. And it seems that some of the provisions around the announcement (Monday) are really about changing the way family doctors are remunerated and the way practices are organized so that patients can get better quality care and better access to care.”
Dr. Alika Lafontaine, president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), says he is “excited” the B.C. government co-developed this new model with doctors in the province.
