Thousands of patients get access to family doctors at Whistler clinic

Before the Whistler 360 Health Collaborative opened in January 2023, patients had a hard time seeing a doctor.

Clinics were closing. Staff were leaving. Patients were turned away.

"We had five or six doctors," says Jocelyn Read, practice manager of Whistler 360 Health. “It really weighed on you because all we did was say ‘no’.”

That’s not the case today, where more than 10,000 patients in Whistler have a family doctor, up from roughly 6,000 a year ago. The number of family physicians has also doubled, giving people access to their own family doctor or a walk-in visit at one of its two clinic locations.

Clinic co-founder Dr Karin Kausky credits the rapid success to Whistler 360 Health’s “social contract to provide access to primary care” to all residents. Run by a board of directors, the society is responsible for hiring staff, running meetings, and dealing with purchasing, leasing contracts and overhead, leaving the clinic’s nine family physicians and three nurse practitioners to do what they do best: care for patients. 

“It’s taken away that administrative burden,” Read says. “They just get to be doctors now.”

The success has been bolstered by the Longitudinal Family Physician (LFP) Payment Model, which came into effect a month after Whistler 360 Health became operational after taking over administrative operations of Whistler Medical Clinic.

Most family physicians at Whistler 360 Health have signed on to the LFP model, developed by the Ministry of Health with Doctors of BC and BC Family Doctors in response to an urgent need to retain and attract family physicians in community longitudinal practice by compensating them appropriately for the work they do.

Carol Leacy, who co-founded Whistler 360 Health and is director of operations, credits the LFP model as a big part of what enabled them to bring on four new physicians, as well as retaining the physicians from Whistler Medical Clinic. 

“It was obviously a big part of the success,” Dr Kausky says. “The remuneration allowed people to move to a place that was expensive to live in. And now they don’t have to set it up and pay the costs associated with growth and the upkeep of the clinic.” 

The clinic’s practitioners have the support of one social worker, and work hand-in-hand with Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS), which provides outreach services such as counselling, the Food Bank and mental health services.

All medical office assistants (MOAs) tour the WCSS to get an understanding of what services are available.

WCSS executive director Jackie Dickinson says the collaboration increases continuity of care. She recently helped a patient, who recently immigrated from Africa, to connect with a nurse practitioner at Whistler 360 Health. 

“I watched this nurse practitioner listen intently. He said ‘I’m glad you’re here. I’m now here to take care of you.’ That was the most powerful thing I’d ever seen,” Dickinson says. “When we can attach people to higher levels of care but meaningful attachment that has tremendous impact.” 

The ability for patients to have a family doctor or same-day access for walk-in services has made a huge difference, Leacy agrees, noting about 50% of appointments booked through the clinic are conducted within 72 hours. 

The has led to a decline in the number of lower acuity cases at the community’s diagnostic and treatment centre, or emergency centre. Leacy says the number of less urgent and non-urgent cases there has dropped by 10% per month, translating to about 1,600 fewer visits. 

“We’re able to fit people in as needed,” she says. “We’re feeling like we can hold some same day or next day spots and fit people in and two years ago that wasn’t the case.” 

The Whistler 360 Health model has also helped to retain staff, partly because they are able to match patients with practitioners. “We had a lot of staff turnover before we started and now the staff say it’s so much nicer to say ‘yes, we are taking on new patients’ or ‘yes, we can fit you in’,” Leacy says.  

Whistler 360 Health is also committed to increasing MOA educational opportunities, allowing MOAs to work at enhanced scopes and be a more integral part of the care team. This not only increases patient satisfaction but also MOA job satisfaction. 

Dr Kausky says she is excited for the future of Whistler 360 Health. A Primary Care Network (PCN) for the village is underway, which will add allied health professionals to the pool of existing practitioners. Integrating a nurse-in-practice program is also in the plans.

“There is accountability within our community for access to primary care,” Dr Kausky says. “If I drop off the face of the earth today, 1,000 patients will not get a notice that they have three months to find a new physician because Whistler 360 is committed to providing access to primary are for them.”