Better work/life balance for family physicians is one of the core goals of the Family Practice Renewal Program. Some of the strategies to achieve that include:
The nature and extent of progress in primary care reform during the last decade has been variable across the country. Primary care groups, networks and inter-professional teams have been implemented to varying degrees in most provinces and territories, and an increasing proportion of primary care physicians are participating in blended payment models. It appears that Canada’s primary care performance is better for most aspects of prevention, chronic disease management and coordination of care. Opportunities for major advances include timely access to care (both in-person and by telephone and during both regular office hours and afterhours), patient-centeredness and engagement, communication across healthcare settings, care processes, development of inter-professional teams, use and functionality of electronic medical/health records, systematic feedback on performance, and addressing health and healthcare inequities.
The Department of Health and Community Services and the regional health authorities are rolling out a number of provincial primary health care reform activities in targeted areas of the province. The Family Practice Renewal Program is a key provincial and Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association priority, to facilitate family physician participation and integration with these other primary health care initiatives. The Family Practice Renewal Program is intended to complement these and other projects, while ensuring family physicians have the right mechanisms to participate and integrate with improvements in overall system reform.
Your physician representatives on the Family Practice Renewal Committee (FPRC) are working on your behalf to guide program development. They are:
We look forward to consulting with them a lot more in 2018.
Members are:
No. One of the program principles is voluntary participation for all programs. However, although you can take advantage of individual program areas, e.g. the Fee Code Program, we would encourage you to participate in local Family Practice Networks, if available in your area, and Practice Improvement initiatives, to support practice management needs you may have.
To indicate interest in any aspect of the Family Practice Renewal Program, please contact one of our program staff.