BC Green MLAs Sonia Furstenau and Adam Olsen are calling on the provincial government to “immediately act on the family doctor crisis” in British Columbia.
The BC Greens are calling for a modernization of the fee-for-service payment model and to expand alternative payment models to higher reflect the demand for in-person, longitudinal, and team-based care.
Currently, there are between 750,000 to 900,000 British Columbians with no family doctor.
“The billing model could be very outdated and doesn’t provide the steadiness needed for good medical care,“ Furstenau said Wednesday.
“Doctors are principally running a small business as a substitute of putting their focus into caring for his or her community members.”
Furstenau, the party’s leader, says the present fee-for-service model is popping prospective doctors away from family practice.
The federal government has committed to supporting Urgent Primary Care Centres as a part of a network of primary care options.
Last week, the BC Liberals presented a petition with over 12,000 signatures calling on the federal government to take expedited motion on the family doctor shortage.
Health Minister Adrian Dix says his government has put in place 27 recent urgent and first care centres and 54 recent primary care networks.
Dix also says the province has had a greater increase in family doctors than another jurisdiction in Canada per capita.
“The problems which can be raised are a struggle in the neighborhood. That’s why we proceed to take those actions, proceed so as to add resources to primary care,” Dix said last week.
“Since 2017, we’ve had a couple of million visits to urgent and first care centres in B.C., providing team-based care to people in the neighborhood. That may be a specific and compelling response to a family practice shortfall and a primary care shortfall that existed prior to 2017, because the member will know.”
