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B.C. RECOGNIZES IMPORTANT ROLE OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS
Oct. 1, 2009
Ministry of Health Services
On Sept. 18, 2009 the Canadian health care journal, Healthcare Quarterly, published an article based on a recent study by Victoria medical researcher, Dr. Marcus Hollander. The article, entitled "Increasing Value for Money in the Canadian Healthcare System: New Findings on the Contribution of Primary Care Services details the important role family physicians play in benefitting patient care and reducing costs on the health care system."
Hollander states, "Family practice in British Columbia was in decline in the 1990s. In order to reverse this trend, the British Columbia Ministry of Health Services and the British Columbia Medical Association agreed to collaborate to support family physicians in the Province."
The Province recognizes that family physicians are a cornerstone of the B.C. health-care system and has implemented a number of initiatives to support both patients and physicians. These include:
- In partnership with the BCMA, the Province continues to move forward with strategies that encourage family doctors to increase access to primary health care for the benefit of all British Columbians.
- Since its inception in 2002, the joint BCMA-Ministry of Health Services committee, the General Practice Services Committee, has allocated more than $800 million on incentive programs for physicians.
- Through the $10 million Family Physicians for BC program under-served communities across the province are benefiting from the addition of 84 family physicians.
- Recognizing the key role of clinical leadership by family physicians in the strategic design and continuous improvement of primary health care, in 2008/09 GPSC implemented Divisions of Family Practice to unite family physicians in a geographic area so they can work together to improve their own practices and to coordinate their services with those of health authorities and community organizations.
- The Province has doubled the number of medical school spaces in B.C. from 128 in 2003 to 256 today.
B.C.'s initiatives to support and promote family practice have created the following results:
- Physician recruitment in B.C. continues to outpace population growth. Between 2001/02 and 2007/8, the number of physicians in B.C. has grown by 13.8 per cent while our total population has grown by 7.4 per cent.
- According to Supply, Distribution and Migration of Canadian Physicians reports from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), from 2001-2007, B.C. had the highest in-migration of physicians in the country, with over 500 physicians moving here from other provinces.
- The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) counts 220 physicians per 100,000 people in B.C. (includes GPs & specialists), compared to the Canadian average of 200 per 100,000 – ranking us second highest in Canada after Nova Scotia.
