Patient Care Guarantees

Doctors of BC policy advocates for an abandonment of attempts to explicitly define the term “medical necessity” as it relates to identifying those services that are insured under the medicare program and calls for a pragmatic determination of those services that will be insured, based not on clinical, but on economic and political grounds. In order for medicare to remain sustainable, governments must have the flexibility to determine those services that are “core” to the program.

The Doctors of BC is also explicit that with that flexibility, governments must be accountable for their decisions; that timely access to those “core” services must be ensured. In a truly patient-centric system, patients must possess a clear understanding of what they are entitled to and when they can expect it.

Lengthy patient waits for medical care remain a matter of grave concern for the public. This concern has stimulated a discussion of the feasibility of introducing care guarantees for medical services(i.e., service guaranteed within a prescribed time frame). This idea was a featured element of the submission made by the CMA and its Divisions to the Romanow Commission.

For the full policy paper, please see ”Patient Care Guarantees”.