Advocacy Update from PABC's CEO

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AdvocacyUpdates

Two-Year Anniversary of the First Case of COVID in BC

Last week, we passed the two-year mark since the first case of COVID-19 was discovered here in BC. This has been a time of loss and extreme hardship for so many. It has not been equal nor has it been felt in the same way for people in BC, especially within our health care system and for our physiotherapy community.

Those early days saw the public system taking on so many new patients (and this is still the case) and clinics closing like many other businesses. PABC responded rapidly and tried to determine how best to support and provide links to the orders, federal financial supports, and PPE sourcing. We also spoke with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and advocated on your behalf to deem physiotherapy an essential service and to have clinics reopened.

We put together the Virtual Toolkit and helped with sharing and education around best practices when providing virtual care. Our students at UBC and UNBC have done virtual learning and interims have been through a lengthy uncertain time around the Clinical Component of the physiotherapy competency exam. Uncertainty still exists for many interims and those close to them.

CAPR Discontinues the PCE. PABC Board Statement. What Are the Next Steps?

You can view the Joint Statement about PCE from the branches of the CPA here. PABC has always maintained that we have two major concerns for the interim physios:

Short-term – Get as many interims to full licensure as quickly as possible. We have spoken with CPTBC and the MoH on this issue many times over the last two years. Here in BC, we have seen approximately 420 interims (mostly but not all BC-trained) do the virtual exams via UBC. There are approximately 150 interims now awaiting the next steps. We still want all eligible interims moving to full licensure as soon as possible.

Yesterday, I connected with and asked for a meeting with the Allied Health Policy Secretariat to reiterate our stance to move the interims forward to full licensure. This meeting will take place in two weeks. The solution needs to be made in BC and so the answer is with the CPTBC and MoH but we advocate for interims in every meeting that we have with them. We have a shortage of physios here in BC (we know, the college knows and the ministry knows) and our interims are university trained and ready to go; we want you working to your full capacity.

Long-term – The PABC Board has said it does want to be involved in, or if needed lead for BC in looking at the best way to have our interims move forward to full licensure. For the long-term solution, we need to know what the science says, we need to include the stakeholders, the students, the interims, the practicing physiotherapists, the academics, the regulators, and the Ministries of Health, and we want a legal opinion on labour mobility.

We believe we should take all of this and collaborate on a solution. Right now, there are two groups putting together a plan to collaborate and look at solutions – CPA and CAPR. CPA plans to have meetings with the provinces around the process in the next few weeks. BC will be involved and have our members' interests and the best interests of the profession at the forefront. A national approach to finding a long-term solution may prove to be the best solution – let's all work together to get the answer.

We also had an article in the Directions magazine that outlined some of the historical information about the PCE, which you can find here. This desire for a long-term solution will be a part of our discussion with the MoH as well.

WorkSafeBC Update

As most of you know, the new details of the WSBC Contract will be coming out in approximately a month. This is the cycle that we have seen with the contracts over the last decades. Since the last changes to the contract in 2017 where we saw the block funding contract move from being with individual physios to being with clinics, a working group of approximately five board and committee members have been meeting with WSBC, outlining the membership's desires around changes to the contracts.

I have also been on another WSBC working group with physio around the province discussing the concerns with the contract and processes of billing and working with WSBC. As you may recall, we have asked for your input several times, mostly via surveys. WSBC has also asked for your input. All of this has helped to build relationships and provided input into the new contract. Right now, WSBC is doing the work internally to finalize the contract and they will make it public soon. They are also putting out another survey this week on physiotherapy providers, please watch for that survey.

ICBC Updates

We have heard from several members that they are experiencing issues around the billing process. When the changes were discussed several years ago, I suggested a portal that was accessible by the patient (and caregivers) and all healthcare providers (those designated by the patient). I also suggested that it integrate seamlessly with all the booking and billing systems. They investigated doing that, they had working groups with all parties, including some clinic office staff and as much as the system sounds like the answer, they have not been able to implement it…yet.

In our meetings every two weeks, we continue to ask for a better plan around billing and will continue to do so. We also ask for faster and more consistent responses with adjustors. Harleen from our Business Affairs Committee (BAC) also attends those meetings and provides valuable input from a clinic owner's perspective.

In addition, I am also in two key working groups:

  • Health Care Providers
  • Injury Recovery Design Panel