Report from the Board - March 2021

Dear Colleagues:

It is a pleasure to update you on the Board’s March meeting.

With the meeting date falling nearly exactly one year since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in BC, Board members recognized all of those we have lost with a moment of silence. Tribute was also paid to front-line doctors and their teams who have put themselves at risk, as well as the staff of Doctors of BC, who have been stretched to capacity over this past year.

CEO Update on priority goals

• A proposed mandate for 2021 negotiations, based on member consultation, is under development and will be coming to the Board for its consideration soon.
• Doctors of BC’s negotiations department is actively supporting physicians to negotiate alternate payment arrangements. Previously, the majority of this work would have been done by private lawyers hired by physicians. This represents a large volume of work. In addition to the negotiations team, Regional Advisors and Advocates (RAAs) are also involved in advising physicians interested in alternative payment models.
• The Joint Collaborative Committees (JCCs) are on track for 90% of their goals as their year-end (March 31, 2021) approaches.  JCC workplans for the upcoming year have been approved by the Physician Services Committee. Following feedback, the Specialist Services Committee has increased its budget dedicated to community specialists from $100,000 to $500,000.
• The JCC Integration Council has held consultations with stakeholders and leaders across BC on the future of virtual care; it is hoped its work will be a catalyst to bring about positive change in the balancing of virtual and in-person care as we move into the future.
• Doctors of BC continues to work with government to reach the goal of getting certainty on post-pandemic fees for virtual care.
• The Doctors of BC Advocacy team is getting started on developing new practice supports and business supports for members.
• A review is underway of the nominating process for filling committee positions. The goal is to make it easier for members of the Nominating Committee to access skills-specific information about candidates through a skills matrix. The Diversity and Inclusion Working Group is considering how to supplement the matrix to ensure greater diversity and inclusion.
• The Diversity and Inclusion Working Group has launched a member consultation on a proposed vision statement for Doctors of BC, and continues to work through the recommendations of the Barrier Assessment Report.

Future planning

Board members participated in a strategic planning and brainstorming session to discuss and prioritize ongoing issues. Topics discussed will require further thought and analysis before coming back to the Board. Topics included IM/IT supports, the future of family medicine, and clinical/business autonomy.

Measurement of membership satisfaction

The Board engaged in a discussion about the importance of being able to measure the satisfaction of members as “customers” of Doctors of BC. This kind of feedback is considered vital in many industries to better understand the needs and loyalties of their customers (members). Board Directors discussed several options for measurement including customer satisfaction scores (a short survey right after an interaction with the organization), customer effort scores (the ease with which members were able to complete their task), and the net promoter score (whether a member would recommend us to another member?). The Board and CEO are continuing to collaborate on this as we develop a model of consultation which fits best with our sector.

Risk Register

The Board and CEO worked through the 2021 Risk Register, a document that outlines potential risks to the organization and provides a measure of the likelihood that a risk may arise. It was noted by the CEO that overall, Doctors of BC has managed to reduce risk to ‘low’ or ‘medium’ in all the areas that have previously been considered high-risk. Specific work is being invested in the area of tech management and IT security, considering the current high-profile of risk awareness in all organizations to the threat of hacking/data theft, given we take our members’ information security extremely seriously.  

President and RA Speaker reports

The Board had the opportunity to listen to our president update us on the member issues that he has been speaking about and advocating on during the past month. We reviewed the delegate survey input from our February 5 RA meeting with the Speaker – who also joined us in discussing some preliminary planning for the May RA meeting.

Appointments to committees

The Board approved the following appointments, based on recommendations from the Nomination Committee:

Council on Health Promotion

Dr Michael Slatnik (member)

Council on Health Economics and Policy

Dr Ali Abdalvand (member)

Medical Services Commission

Dr Samuel Bugis be recommended for appointment to the Crown Agency Board Resourcing Office (member)

WorkSafeBC Liaison Committee

Dr Elliott Weiss (re-appointed as member)   

Regional Physical/Psychological Health and Safety Working Group

Dr Erin Fukushima (member)  

Thank you to everyone who expressed their interest in these positions. We hope you will watch for future openings for committees that may be of interest. 

Finally, as we continue to navigate our way through what we hope is the “beginning of the end” of this pandemic, the Board sends you our best wishes and ongoing strength for your vital role in seeking the health and wellness of not only the patients you serve, but also for each of you.

For the Board,

Dr Jeff Dresselhuis