Family Medicine at Risk: CaRMS Results Underscore Urgency
CaRMS released their first round of resident matching data on March 19. The results follow the alarming trends of recent years with fewer and fewer medical students choosing family medicine in Ontario. Combine that with a shrinking workforce of family doctors plus an increasing population in this province, it doesn’t create a hopeful outlook for our profession. When students go out to clinics on rotations and see the administrative burdens and patient loads their preceptors are dealing with, it’s not creating appeal – even though family medicine offers a diverse career that allows doctors to build long-term relationships with patients and their community. Imagine being a medical grad with student debt to pay off, seeing the high burnout rates among family docs, and knowing that compensation for the extent of care provided is lower than other specialties. They’re making a clear choice, and this is once again reflected in this year’s first round data.
Earlier this week, we sent out a media release voicing our thoughts about the CaRMS results. Stay tuned for the media coverage we received on this issue next week.
Your SGFP will continue to advocate for real funding changes that will appropriately fund family medicine, so we not only feel supported to remain in our family practices, but also encourage future medical students to choose family medicine as their specialty.
Please review the attached media coverage from the past few weeks, and reach out if you have questions about SGFP advocacy or would like to review our key messages if you are approached with any media inquiries.
Warm regards,
David Barber
Chair, Section on General and Family Practice
In The News
From February 12 - March 12, 2024, Dr. David Barber and SGFP were mentioned in the media a total of 395 times. View the SGFP Media Coverage.
Tariff Talk for Family Doctors
Meet Your Tariff Lead
Dr. Salesh Budhoo has been practicing Family Medicine in Ontario since 2010. He is currently a Physician Peer Leader with Ontario MD and a board member in the Mississauga Health Primary Care Network. He is a past Treasurer for the Solo Doctors Medical Interest Group of the Ontario Medical Association and was an accredited Physician Examiner with Veterans Evaluations Services (USA) for five years.
Dr. Budhoo has taken on the Tariff Lead role in the SGFP. In collaboration and consultation with other sections of the SGFP and OMA membership, the Tariff Lead is responsible for managing issues related to compensation and negotiation for family physicians over the next three years. This section of the new biweekly newsletter will focus on information related to compensation, fee codes, and billing updates.
Don’t Forget to Bill your Preventive Care Bonus!
For the Fiscal Year April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024: all of the Preventive Care Bonuses are eligible to be billed starting April 1, 2024. These are subject to the new 3-month stale-dating rules so please submit these claims before June 18th, 2024 to ensure processing. For clarity all 5 bonuses can be billed starting April 1, 2024 for eligible physicians for the calculations of the Fiscal Year 2023. Please note that the Preventative care Q codes must be dated 31 March 2024 to avoid it being rejected.
For Fiscal Year 2024 (April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025): preventative care bonuses for Pap, Mammography and FOBT/FIT are no longer eligible for FHO and FHN physicians, and the remaining Childhood immunization and Flu Shot will be prorated based on roster size. Details around the proration will be forthcoming.
For those in a CCM or FHG model, the FY2024 Preventive Care Bonus will remain with all 5 levels.