Physicians learning about Doctors of BC’s services while earning CME credits

This past weekend, along with about a dozen Doctors of BC staff, I had the privilege of attending the first Doctors of BC Education Day. Hosted in Prince George, the purpose of this CME accredited event was to engage with our members – to bring together family and specialist physicians in one forum and to inform them about the valuable and varied services and supports Doctors of BC provides its members.

Now I would bet that most if not all physicians know that we negotiate compensation on their behalf with government, and that we provide great insurance products. But I think far fewer physicians know about the additional value-added work that goes on behind the scenes, work that takes place every day, and is performed to benefit individual physicians and the profession as a whole.  For instance, during this education day attendees learned from the Association’s Director of Policy the many steps that are taken to determine which policy positions should be developed, what those positions ought to be, and how the work of the Council on Health Economics and Policy and the Council on Health Promotion are integral to the whole process. These two strategic committees are prime examples of physician leadership at work, and the policy papers and statements that have been developed can be found here. Our policies on topics such as telemedicine, preventing violence in healthcare, and supporting family caregivers are just a few of the many positions your Association has taken that we advocate for on your behalf with government, the public, and other stakeholders.  

Physicians learned from Doctors of BC’s Executive Director of Negotiations the many facets to negotiating contracts on behalf of physicians with the Ministry of Health, health authorities and local hospitals, and with contractors such as ICBC and WorkSafeBC.  I think the physicians who attended have a greater appreciation of all that takes place behind the scenes, whether it’s full on Physician Master Agreement (PMA) negotiations or a local disagreement between a group of doctors and their local administrators or health authority managers.

The session that we dedicated the most time to discuss was that of medical audits and billing. At any given time any physician could be singled out for an audit – no physician is immune to this process. The good news is Doctors of BC has an excellent physician advocate on staff whose role is to help physicians understand what might trigger an audit, what to expect when you are being audited, what you should and shouldn’t do if you receive an audit notice, and most importantly, how to protect yourself from an audit. More resources on audit and billing can be found here.

There were a number of other interesting topics presented that sparked engaging dialogue among attendees. I heard positive feedback from our physician colleagues and their MOAs who were grateful that Doctors of BC cared enough to develop this tailored CME event and bring it out to them in their local community – rather than physicians having to travel to Vancouver. If you would be interested in a Doctors of BC Education Day in your region, please let us know! Email Alyson Thomas at View Email Addressathomas@doctorsofbc.ca.