Provincial health officials announced the news Monday morning, saying doctors will be able to opt out of the current fee-for-service system in the new year. Under this system, doctors are paid based on the number of patients they see in a day. The new model will take into account factors including the amount of time a doctor spends with a patient, the complexity of their needs, the number of patients a doctor sees each day, as well as the total number of patients a doctor supports through their practice and their administrative costs. Most family doctors in BC are currently paid about $30 per patient visit, whether they’re treating a common cold or a complex chronic health problem. In September, Health Minister Adrian Dix acknowledged that BC has been in a health care crisis since at least the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of people without a family doctor in the province rose from about 340,000 in 2003 to 908,000 in 2017 and is expected to be higher this year, he said. Since becoming health minister in 2017, Dix said, 38,000 new employees have been added to the health system in B.C.
Doctor salary increase
Speaking to the press and the public Monday, Dix said the new payment model will make it more attractive for doctors to enter family practice and retain existing doctors. He said it would give family doctors the flexibility and autonomy to create the kind of practice that suits them. “We make family practice the priority it should be,” Dix said. Family doctors will get a significant raise under the new reimbursement model. The provincial government says a full-time family doctor will be paid about $385,000 a year, up from the current $250,000, under the new three-year Physician Master agreement reached with Doctors of BC last week. In addition to the wage increases, the government says in a statement that the funds will also cover income differentials and new hourly premiums for out-of-hours services. The statement says the agreement provides fairer pay for the work of family doctors and better recognizes their value in providing complete primary care to patients. Full-time family physicians are those who work in communities to provide continuous primary care services to their patients. Doctors of BC President Ramneek Dosanjh supports the new master agreement, which still needs to be ratified by doctors. (CBC) Dr. Ramneek Dosanjh, president of Doctors of BC, praised the new agreement Monday — calling it the best in the country and a “seismic shift” for the better in B.C. The goal is not only to stabilize the family practice, but to make it sustainable and rewarding, Dosanjh said in the statement. “Everyone deserves a family doctor, and this new option is an important step toward making that goal a reality,” he said. The new master agreement, which was developed between Doctors of BC, the province and BC Family Doctors, still needs to be ratified by doctors. In November 2021, a report published in the Canadian Family Physician Journal found that aspiring family physicians are choosing more hospital work and specialty practice over family medicine — in part because they worry about the implications of BC’s fee-for-service model.
