Incentive to immunize
Issue: BCMJ,
vol. 60, No. 10, December 2018,
Page 480 Letters
With the flu season upon us again, will someone please remind us why the government is failing to fund opportunistic influenza immunization in general practice?
As things stand, GPs receive no additional remuneration if they choose to immunize vulnerable patients when the service is provided in addition to a consult (i.e., only the consult fee can be claimed).
Why is that? It seems eminently sensible to us that vulnerable patients should be immunized when they present, but that means our time, our needles, our syringes, and our sharps boxes are all funded at our expense.
Where is the incentive in that?
—Shaun Humphreys, MD, CCFP
—Neil Crofton, MD
Victoria