Bringing together unattached patients and family doctors

The BC government and Doctors of BC have announced the expansion of the Health Connect Registry (HCR) to help bring unattached patients together with doctors in their communities who have capacity to increase their panels. Dr Josh Greggain, president of Doctors of BC, notes that improved registry will make things easier and faster for patients to find a family doctor, and more efficient for doctors  who are building new panels or expanding capacity. The new process will be flexible to ensure the best outcome for everyone – a strong long-term family doctor/patient relationship. It builds on the achievements of the last year, including the development of the Longitudinal Family Physician Payment Model, and will help us continue to improve our health care system and the care that patients receive.
 
Information for doctors

• A physician registry will be available for all family doctors providing longitudinal care to provide practice information, including their potential capacity to accept new patients. No doctors will be forced to increase their panel size. No doctors will be forced to take on new patients. The final decision on whether a new patient is a good match is left with the physician and the patient.
• Medical directors and designated staff for longitudinal practices will also be asked to provide information into a Clinic and Provider Registry. This will provide an understanding of the care gaps and needs in a community to help with future planning. It will be pre-populated with information provided by Doctors of BC, collected during the clinic stabilization payment process in October 2022. 
• Information on resources, including payment, to support physician and clinic participation in the new registries will be provided to physicians and medical directors, and clinic staff starting in the next few weeks and throughout the summer. 
• While the physician registry is expected to be available in the next few weeks, the system will be built out prospectively over time, and we will be welcoming input from our members to ensure it works for doctors.

More information can be found in our president’s letter.

Have a question or a comment? E-mail us at View Email Addresscommunications@doctorsofbc.ca.