BC doctors get 'one of best ever' pay offers

The provincial government has announced a new way of paying family doctors that it says will strengthen the health care system, keep more physicians in practice, and attract new ones.

The three-year agreement includes a $135,000 pay increase, from $250,000 to $385,000, for a doctor working a full-time five-day week equivalent. Doctors can choose to work as little as a 0.2 contract, or one day a week, and will be compensated accordingly.

An estimated one million British Columbia residents don’t have a family doctor and the profession has been losing numbers amidst burn out and ever-increasing overhead costs for practitioners.

In what is being called a "foundational shift", doctors will no longer be paid on a fee-for-service model based on the number of patients they see.

“It is by far the best agreement negotiated for physicians in Canada this year,” Doctors of BC president Dr. Ramneek Dosanjh said at a media conference Monday. “And I believe it is one of the best that has ever been negotiated here in BC.”

Doctors will vote on approval in the coming weeks.

Dosanjh said she had heard from doctors across the province who had been poised to join others in quitting their practice and had given her a deadline for things to improve in terms of compensation.

“This new payment model bolsters support for physicians providing longitudinal family practice ... and stabilizes efforts on the ground,” she said.

Starting in February, doctors will charge for their services based on many factors including time spent with a patient, the number of patients a doctor supports through their office, the complexity of a patient’s needs, and administrative costs.

This is expected to help physicians in communities where there may be an older demographic with patients having more complex needs, for example.

The Province and Doctors of BC have also reached a new master agreement that includes several commitments to better support doctors, including addressing work completed after regular operating hours.

Will this get me a family doctor?

“It’s going to have a very, very positive effect,” BC Health Minister Adrian Dix said, while adding he could not put numbers on how many British Columbians could expect to get a family doctor as a direct result of this new deal.

“It will provide more care and support our primary care system; that’s the intent, that’s the goal."

Dix said based on the positive response to $118 million in stabilization funding to over 3,000 family physicians announced in August, he expected the chronic shortages to be eased.

“All of the indications show it is going to significantly improve things. This is a proven investment in that system.”

Monday’s announcement is part of the NDP government’s wider plan that focuses on 70 key actions to recruit, train and retain health-care workers.