Doctors lead the way in primary care change

March 15, 2017

Have you been hearing about the patient medical home or the primary care home, and wondering what those terms mean? 

Essentially, the two terms refer to the doctor’s office and new linkages being made to other doctors, teams, and networks. The patient medical home and primary care home create a model for collaborative, team-based primary care—with the doctor’s office at the centre—providing wrap-around care for patients.

Dr Alan Ruddiman, President of Doctors of BC, recently stated: “Not every patient encounter in a family doctor's office necessarily requires the patient to see a doctor. So I think we need to start planning for collaborative teams bringing nurses into doctors' offices, having mental health workers, counsellors. And I think that way we can free up family doctors to do what they do best. They're the experts in medicine.”

The General Practice Service Committee and the Divisions of Family Practice are playing a leadership role in the realization of this vision, in partnership with the provincial government and health authorities.  BC’s doctors are using the successful lessons and models developed through A GP for Me  as a foundation for the next steps in evolving primary care– to benefit our patients and to bring greater professional satisfaction to physicians.

For more, visit the GPSC Patient Medical Home web page here.