BCBUSINESS.CA
Premier Christy Clark said
recently that the Medical
Services Plan needs an over-
haul. What is your position?
How we derive revenue to sup-
port our health-care system is
best left to cabinet. We must
bear in mind that federal-
provincial transfer payments
for health care have shifted
from 50:50 to 25:75. We also,
as Canadians, need to ask
ourselves what scope of health
care we want and to recognize
that when the Medicare system
developed 60 years ago was
first initiated, the average age of
recipients was 32. It is now 52.
A study published by
UBC's
Centre for Health Services
and Policy Research recently
took to task the supposed
failure of B.C.'s incentive-
based fee system to improve
primary care. You disagreed.
We think that the study was
deeply flawed: it only used two
years of data for a program
that has been in place for nine
years. Further, it missed a sig-
nificant number of programs.
We believe that it's too early
to tell final outcomes, but we
remain positive that we're on
the right track—one example
being that this regime has seen
160,000 patients linked to
primary-care providers.
What is the chief challenge
that you and Doctors of BC
currently face?
We need more doctors, espe-
cially general physicians and
doctors in rural communities.
Twenty-five per cent of our
provincial population lives in
rural communities, but only
about 14 per cent of our doc-
tors do. We are working hard
to cure this inequity, but it's a
perfect storm: the average age
of GPs is 54, and specialists 52.
And when we recently polled
our membership, fully 25 per
cent said that they plan to retire
within five to seven years.
Where do you see things
going in terms of health-care
delivery?
I think that, in the future, we
will see team-based health care
—multidisciplinary practices
where a doctor, nurse, nurse
practitioner, clinical pharmacist,
social worker and physiothera-
pist might all work together to
provide patient primary care.
A team-based approach means
more capacity and more time for
doctors to provide the highest
quality of health care. As a prov-
ince, we simply must address
growing patient wait times,
improve access at all levels, and
enhance patient and public
safety. A strong health-care sys-
tem remains a foundation of our
society, and I remain optimistic
that the health-care partners
will do the right thing to get us
back on track.
•
NUMBER OF
PHYSICIANS
PER 100,000
POPULATION
Canada
2011: 210
2015: 228
Nova Scotia
2011: 241
2015: 261
Saskatchewan
2011: 179
2015: 196
B.C.
2011: 216
2015: 232
SOURCE: CANADIAN
INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH
INFORMATION, 2016
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