What family doctors need from the 2025 provincial budget

As the province prepares to release the 2025 budget, family doctors across British Columbia are looking for one thing: a real commitment to sustainable, accessible primary care. The past few years have brought significant challenges and some important changes, but we are still far from ensuring that every British Columbian has access to a family doctor.

Here’s what we need to see:

1. Continued investment in the Longitudinal Family Physician (LFP) Payment Model

The introduction of the LFP model was a step in the right direction, helping to stabilize family practice and make it a more viable career choice. However, it doesn’t yet apply to all the settings where family doctors work (e.g. rural emergency rooms). This leaves many doctors struggling with administrative busywork and gaps in funding. The provincial budget must fully fund and refine this model to ensure it works for patient care in all settings and care provided by family doctors in all types of communities.

2. Accelerated action on team-based care

Family doctors can’t do it alone. We need a healthcare system that integrates nurses, allied health professionals and administrative support into family practice clinics. A funded, coordinated team-based care model would allow doctors to focus on what they do best—caring for patients—while ensuring that everyone gets the care they need.

3. Administrative reform to reduce paperwork

Family doctors spend too much time on paperwork and not enough time with patients. The budget must include funding for technology upgrades, staff support, and policy changes that cut down on unnecessary administrative work, allowing doctors to focus on patient care.

4. Better support for overhead costs

Rising overhead costs are pushing family doctors out of community-based practice. Unlike other healthcare providers, physicians run small businesses and must cover rent, staff salaries, medical equipment, and technology. Without targeted funding to offset these costs, many clinics will continue to close, leaving more patients without care.

5. More pathways for new family doctors to enter practice

We need more family doctors—now. But medical students continue to choose other specialties due to concerns that they won’t be able to provide quality care in family practice. This budget must prioritize solutions, including vacation/illness coverage, team-based support and mentorship programs to support new doctors launching their careers.

A budget for the future of primary care

The choices made in this budget will shape the future of healthcare in BC. We need government to invest in family doctors and primary care now. Without sustained funding to support meaningful policy changes, patients will continue to wait too long for care or go without care altogether.

In these challenging times, we urge the government to deliver a budget that prioritizes primary care and ensures Fair Care Everywhere for all British Columbians. BC Family Doctors will be watching the March 4 budget announcement closely.