A recent survey of medical residents at the University of British Columbia (UBC) shows that BC’s new family doctor payment model is making waves. About 84 per cent of survey respondents said the new payment system has influenced their decision to pursue a career in family practice. The survey was part of an unpublished research study from the UBC Department of Family Practice.
BC introduced the Longitudinal Family Physician (LFP) Payment Model in February 2023 to address poor pay and burnout among family doctors. Unlike the fee-for-service model, LFP pays doctors not just for seeing patients but also for all the behind-the-scenes work that comes with family practice, like paperwork and coordinating care. The hope was that a new payment model would make family medicine more appealing and ease the province’s family doctor shortage. Only 62 per cent of licensed family doctors practice primary care, and just 21 per cent of those do it full-time, according to research cited in the study.
Feedback on the new payment model so far is encouraging:
- Sixty-five per cent of students surveyed plan to use the LFP Payment Model when they start practicing.
- Only four per cent intend to stick with the old fee-for-service model.
- Forty per cent of respondents said they were ‘somewhat influenced’ to practice primary care by the new LFP Payment Model.
- Forty-four per cent said they were ‘very much influenced’ by the LFP Payment Model to practice primary care.
- Fifty-eight per cent of participants said they planned to increase their clinical hours in primary care because of the LFP model.
The study concluded that the LFP Payment Model is a big step forward in tackling BC’s primary care crisis, acknowledging that doctors need a balanced life to offer better care for patients. While there’s more work to do and adjustments to make, this study shows that the LFP Payment Model is a promising start towards a more sustainable and effective primary care system in BC.
The study, Impact of the New Longitudinal Family Payment Model on Family Medicine Residents’ Intentions to Practice in Longitudinal Primary Care, is part of an unpublished manuscript held at UBC and will be referenced in an upcoming Medical Post article. To access the study, contact the study authors, Kristie Chau, Spencer Cheyne, Philip Green, Matthew Lum, Kristen Wiemken and Evelyn Cornelissen here.