What’s New

Dr. Matt Chow, our new Doctors of BC Co-Chair for the SSC operates under the belief that everyone has three unique stories: their past, now and what’s yet to be. As a trained psychiatrist, it is not surprising to find Matt’s practice is part of the ‘Three Story Clinic’, which clearly reflects this belief.

Physicians from across Vancouver Island gathered in Sidney last week to celebrate the graduation of cohort two from the Physician Quality Improvement initiative.

Dr. Valorie Masuda has been working in palliative care for seven years and has helped care for hundreds of people near the end of their lives.

St. Paul’s Hospital initiated a LEAN project to improve efficiency in the surgical daycare and operating rooms.  The goals were to improve access, patient flow, patient and provider satisfaction and communication. A team at St. Paul’s Hospital involving surgeons, anesthesia, surgical department head, surgical managers, clinical nurse leaders, surgical directors, decision support and a consultant worked to reduce delays and improve the experience of surgical daycare patients

SSC has made various changes to its fees and introduced new ones over the past few years to support specialists delivering high quality care to patients. Unlike regular fee-for-service fees funding through the Medical Services Plan, SSC’s budget is capped on an annual basis. As a collaborative committee, we have the responsibility to manage these fees. Therefore, we are making changes to ensure the fees remain aligned with their original intent while keeping utilization within SSC's fixed budget. We have worked hard to ensure minimal impact to you while achieving our fiscal goals. New fee changes take effect July 1, 2017. See Special Bulletin for more information.

Times have changed. Multiple Sclerosis used to be a disease with very little treatment options and a progressive ability to severely disable those affected by it. Within the last five to six years, new drug therapies have proven to be making major inroads in slowing the progression of the disease and in some cases resulting in no evidence of disease activity. However, with these new drugs comes a higher risk profile and the need for greater monitoring.

Dr. Eric Grafstein is a curious man, which always served him well. It is curiosity that led him to submit a proposal to the SSC’s Quality and Innovation (Q&I) Initiative to pilot a project to make physician telephone consultations available for more urgent calls – considered ‘red calls’ made to the HealthLinkBC 8-1-1 line. He was curious to know if adding a physician would reduce the number of ‘red calls’ ending up in the emergency department (ED). SSC funded the five-month pilot through the Q&I Initiative.

It was one particular moment in medical school that propelled Dr William Siu, President of the BC Radiological Society, to venture into the field of Radiology. “While attending rounds as a senior medical student, I was blown away by what I saw an Interventional Radiologist do for a particular case – a case that highlighted the cutting edge and futuristic potential of Interventional Radiology. This was what led me to choose Radiology for my residency.”