The Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues (JSC), a partnership of Doctors of BC and the BC government, has announced significant changes to the Rural Retention Program (RRP) that will increase eligibility for incentives and benefits and stabilize funding to better recruit and retain physicians into practices in rural communities. The RRP offers incentives and benefits to encourage doctors to establish and maintain practices and connections in rural communities. The program is designed to enhance the supply and stability of physicians in rural communities as defined by the Rural Subsidiary Agreement (RSA). The changes reflect feedback from extensive consultations with rural physicians, communities, and health authorities as part of a review of the program. This completes the first phase of the review.
Recognizing that the eligibility criteria had been largely unchanged since the program started nearly 20 years ago, the JSC undertook a comprehensive 3-year review of the RRP starting in August 2018. Facilitated by the Rural Coordination Centre of BC, nearly 600 rural physicians were consulted via facilitated dialogue, webinars, and a provincial survey. In addition, medical and administrative leaders in each rural health authority, community groups, subject matter experts, and other partners were consulted to develop recommendations.
Feedback included suggestions to address the annual fluctuation of rural points in some communities, to ensure the RRP remains a relevant incentive program including coverage for medical or parental leaves, and to create equity with the business cost premium.
The JSC agreed to hold the points constant while it conducted the review.
Effective 1 April 2021, the changes are:
For questions or inquiries, contact ruralprograms@doctorsofbc.ca [9].
Links
[1] https://bcmj.org/cover/may-2021
[2] https://bcmj.org/node/8475
[3] https://bcmj.org/sites/default/files/BCMJ_Vol63_No4-news_2.pdf
[4] https://bcmj.org/print/news/improvements-rural-retention-program-encouraging-physicians-practise-rural-communities
[5] https://bcmj.org/printmail/news/improvements-rural-retention-program-encouraging-physicians-practise-rural-communities
[6] http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://bcmj.org/print/news/improvements-rural-retention-program-encouraging-physicians-practise-rural-communities
[7] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Improvements to Rural Retention Program encouraging physicians to practise in rural communities&url=https://bcmj.org/print/news/improvements-rural-retention-program-encouraging-physicians-practise-rural-communities&via=BCMedicalJrnl&tw_p=tweetbutton
[8] https://bcmj.org/javascript%3A%3B
[9] mailto:ruralprograms@doctorsofbc.ca
[10] https://bcmj.org/modal_forms/nojs/webform/176
[11] https://bcmj.org/%3Finline%3Dtrue%23citationpop