Policy Database

Doctors of BC Position: Doctors of BC believes that professionalism and effective relationships in healthcare can be enhanced in healthcare provider organizations by clearly defining scope of practice and expected roles, and by health authorities and government working to promote and support collaborative relationships with physicians and other healthcare providers.

Doctors of BC Position: Doctors of BC supports the prohibition on direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs as important to maintain and enforce in Canada. Doctors of BC supports the collaboration of government, health care providers, patient groups and drug manufactures to develop and provide accurate, unbiased prescription drug information to patients.

Doctors of BC Position: Doctors of BC recognizes that email communication is a key component of virtual care and should be used only for transmitting information related to the provision or administration of care, and should be done within proper privacy and security protocols.

Doctors of BC Position: Wait times continue to be an issue of significant concern in the BC health system. In order to guarantee patient care, Doctors of BC supports treating patients within established wait time benchmarks for key services and/or procedures, and this should be supported by the option to use another public or private facility if needed to meet the benchmark.

Doctors of BC Position: Multidisciplinary primary care is an important component of a broader primary care approach designed to meet the challenges of the increasing prevalence of chronic disease, the growing needs of an aging population, and the ongoing concerns of patient access to primary care. To enhance multidisciplinary primary care in BC, Doctors of BC supports setting standards to guarantee patient safety and quality of care, funding to incorporate allied health providers, and physicians should have the option to operate in these teams as the clinical team leader.

Doctors of BC Position: To help reduce the impact of medical student debt Doctors of BC supports raising annual student loan limits to adequately cover expenses and tuition, deferring loan payments and interest accrual until residency training is completed, and offering debt relief incentives for new physicians who commit to practice in BC.

Doctors of BC Position: Due to an aging population and increasing case complexity, there is a growing need for access to acute care services. Doctors of BC calls on the provincial government to establish modeling for the supply of functional acute care beds, account for increased need for acute care beds, and provide the necessary infrastructure and resources to ensure patients timely access of acute care beds.

Doctors of BC Position: A population health approach recognizes that multiple factors contribute to the overall health of a population, and these factors are referred to as determinants of health. Doctors of BC supports increasing collaboration among government through a multi-stakeholder approach, prioritizing vulnerable populations, and supporting evidence-based preventative services. Population health initiatives should not come at the expense of the availability of acute care.

Doctors of BC Position: Within this paper, Doctors of BC refers to Patient-Focused Funding or PFF, which is any method of compensating providers (e.g., individual providers, hospitals) that uses incentives and supports to improve the appropriateness, quality, and efficiency of care for patients. To be successful, patient-focused funding models should be developed collaboratively with physicians, models should be monitored and evaluated, and they should be delivered with flexibility to respond to provider performance and evolving program goals.