Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
Letters

Incentive funding in BC is a key factor for physicians to remain in family practice

Shelley Ross
CMAJ February 13, 2017 189 (6) E249; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.732478
Shelley Ross
Co-chair, General Practice Services Committee, Doctors of BC, Vancouver BC
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

In 2002, British Columbia established the General Practice Services Committee (GPSC) with the mandate to introduce a Full-Service Family Practice Incentive Program (FSFPIP), with the goal of encouraging and supporting full-service general practice by providing incentives to general practitioners to provide full-service family practice. Incentives were implemented for a wide range of primarily chronic conditions.1,2 The article by Lavergne and colleagues, entitled “A population-based analysis of incentive payments to primary care physicians for the care of patients with complex disease”,3 provides only a partial picture of the program by neglecting to provide important context. It confuses one incentive payment (the Complex Care Maintenance Fee) with the broad FSFPIP (calling the single fee the “Complex Care Initiative”), and erroneously suggests the whole program was ineffective.

In fact, an independent evaluation process undertaken from 2008 to 2013 identified that the Complex Care Maintenance Fee in itself did not result in cost saving. In response to these findings, the complex care fee incentive has continued to be refined. Overall, the FSFPIP has resulted in substantial cost avoidance and reduction in hospital admissions, lengths of stay and hospital readmissions. 4 The evaluation was sufficiently rigorous that reports were published in leading national and international peer reviewed journals.1,2,4,5

Furthermore, the article implies that the funding targeted to family practice in BC through the GPSC incentives has failed to achieve its goals, when, in fact, incentive funding was identified during the 2015 GPSC visioning process as a key factor in the decision by many physicians to remain in family practice. This physician support for incentive fees correlates with a substantial increase in the number of medical students choosing residency in general practice since incentive fees were implemented — an increase that aligns with the initial mandate of the GPSC to support the growth of full-service family practice in BC.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: See affiliation.

References

  1. ↵
    1. Cavers WJ,
    2. Tregillus V,
    3. Micco A,
    4. et al
    . Transforming family practice in British Columbia: The General Practice Services Committee (GPSC). Can Fam Physician 2010; 56: 1318–21.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  2. ↵
    1. MacCarthy D,
    2. Hollander MJ
    . RISQy Business (Relationships, Incentives, Supports and Quality): evolution of the British Columbia model of primary care (patient-centered medical home). Perm J 2014;18:43–8.
    OpenUrl
  3. ↵
    1. Lavergne MR,
    2. Law MR,
    3. Peterson S,
    4. et al
    . A population-based analysis of incentive payments to primary care physicians for the care of patients with complex disease. CMAJ 2016; 188: E375–83.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  4. ↵
    1. Hollander MJ,
    2. Kadlec H
    . Incentive-based primary care: cost and utilization analysis. Perm J 2015; 19: 46–56.
    OpenUrl
  5. ↵
    1. Hollander MJ,
    2. Kadlec H
    . Financial implications of the continuity of primary care. Perm J 2015;19: 4–10.
    OpenUrl
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 189 (6)
CMAJ
Vol. 189, Issue 6
13 Feb 2017
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Incentive funding in BC is a key factor for physicians to remain in family practice
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Incentive funding in BC is a key factor for physicians to remain in family practice
Shelley Ross
CMAJ Feb 2017, 189 (6) E249; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.732478

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Incentive funding in BC is a key factor for physicians to remain in family practice
Shelley Ross
CMAJ Feb 2017, 189 (6) E249; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.732478
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • A population-based analysis of incentive payments to primary care physicians for the care of patients with complex disease
  • The authors respond to: letters by Catherine Clelland and Shelley Ross
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • The authors respond to: letters by Catherine Clelland and Shelley Ross
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Coexisting failures do not diminish the stature of a giant
  • Dare we hope
  • Highlighting obesity as a risk factor for endometrial cancer
Show more Letters

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions

Copyright 2021, Joule Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

Powered by HighWire