BCMA Central Coordinating Committee—the watchful eye

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 50, No. 2, March 2008, Page 71 News
By: Darrell Thomson,

For those of you who have delved into the Physician Master Agreement (PMA), you have no doubt been struck by the existence of myriad committees, dealing with everything from health system planning to dispute resolution. No fewer than 10 of those committees directly affect the financial aspects of the PMA, including the management and allocation of certain negotiated funds. Examples include the General Practice Services Committee, the Specialist Services Committee, the Rural Joint Steering Committee, and the MOCAP Review Team. 

With so many key committees operating simultaneously, involving many different participants, you might wonder how they can be assured that these bodies are actually doing the job they were created for, while following the strategic plan laid out by the BCMA Board of Directors. After all, the Board meets but five times per year and cannot be expected to be fully conversant with all aspects of the committee activities.

Enter Dr Brian Brodie and the Central Coordinating Committee (CCC). Under Dr Brodie’s able leadership, the CCC functions as the interface between the PMA committees and the Board of Directors, speaking for, and on behalf of the Board by providing continual oversight, issuing direction where prudent and support when required. 

PMA committee chairs submit written and/or oral briefings to the CCC, allowing Dr Brodie’s group to ensure that effective communication links exist between the Board, the societies, relevant advisory committees and members, that a common vision and purpose are continually expressed, and that the various committees and subcommittees are functioning in unison.

As any who have been involved will know, managing our agreements with government demands time, energy, and commitment. The Association is fortunate to be served by the many dedicated members who are willing to participate in our committee structure. A special thanks to Dr Brodie and the CCC for helping keep things on track.

—Darrell Thomson
Special Advisor to the CEO & BCMA Board

Darrell Thomson,. BCMA Central Coordinating Committee—the watchful eye. BCMJ, Vol. 50, No. 2, March, 2008, Page(s) 71 - News.


Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

Leave a Reply