News&Notes

7 June 2008, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George

On this cloudy and windy day, attendees scurried into the Can­for Theatre of the University of Northern British Columbia, still with fond lingering memories  of the fabulous barbecue hosted by BCMA’s Prince George member Dr Jan Burg at his ranch the evening before.

This is a condensed version of an article that appeared  in the March 1981 issue of the BCMJ.

In the past 11/2 years, this five-physician practice has set about to rid itself of the paperload, improve patient flow and reduce overhead—but most importantly— to increase the pleasures of medical practice… 
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Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask.

In order to understand why a system of audit and inspections has been established in British Columbia, it is necessary to re­view the history of medical care insurance in the province. 

When medical care insurance was established in BC (initially on an entirely private insurer basis), the British Columbia Medical Association was very much involved in setting up the honor system of billings that is the mainstay of the current system. There were different models that could have been adopted. 

The BCMA Board and staff have the responsibility of de­veloping and implementing annual plans that ensure you and your 11000 colleagues receive value for your membership. Like all major or­ganizations, the BCMA’s planning process has multiple steps and re­ceives input from many sources. The foundation for all of our plans is our mission, vision, and values, detailed below. 

Upon that foundation a strategic framework is built; the framework looks out over a 3- to 5-year planning timeframe. The BCMA’s strategic ob­jectives are called key result areas, which currently are:

While today’s BCMJ looks radically different from its earlier incarnation of 50 years ago and is produced on a fully electronic workflow, if you look below the surface you find that the journal’s goals, editorial oversight, and staffing remain essentially unchanged.