Posted on Feb 25, 2020
Ryan Murray is the new Co-Chair of the Specialist Services Committee (SSC) and brings to the role a wealth of experience from the Alberta Medical Association (AMA), the BC Ministry of Health, as well as extensive involvement in many other Joint Collaborative Committees (JCC) programs and initiatives.
After finishing his BA in Political Science from the University of Victoria, Ryan worked for the provincial government before moving to Alberta to complete an MBA at the University of Calgary. At this time, Alberta was implementing Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and upon graduation, Ryan was hired by the AMA to work with physicians on developing business plans for their PCNs.
One of his early points of inspiration after joining the AMA occurred during his participation at the Institute of Health Care Improvement’s summit on primary care. “I think that really got me thinking about health care both from a system perspective and as a patient.” He was impressed that health care had such a focus on continual improvement and how much there was to learn. This sparked his passion and led to him working for the AMA for nine years in different capacities from practice management to physician agreements and negotiations.
“What I really like about health care is that every day I learn something new that I have never heard of before. I don’t know if you can always say that about every system, but you don’t have to look for it that hard in health care.”
When Ryan and his family returned to Victoria in 2014, an opportunity presented itself in the field of health administration with the Ministry of Health, and it was a natural fit given his experience.
Ryan has now been working with the BC Ministry of Health for six years and is currently the Director of Physician Workforce Development. He has been involved in the negotiations of the last two Physician Master Agreements and is a member of multiple JCC initiatives and committees as a Ministry representative. Ryan has been on the SSC and SSC’s Facility Engagement (FE) Working Group since June 2015.
In addition, he is the co-chair of the Joint Benefits Committee, co-chair of the Physician Health Program Steering Committee, member of the GPSC Recruitment and Retention Working Group, past member of the Shared Care Committee (SCC), and past secretariat to the Physician Services Committee.
Emphasizing the value stemming from the level of engagement and collaboration between the Ministry and Doctors of BC, Ryan calls the Joint Collaborative Committees “a key part of the Physician Master Agreement and a unique element of the relationship between government and the medical association, especially when compared to how things are structured in other provinces.”
Ryan’s experience and leadership will be an asset in shaping the future work of the SSC. He notes that as a system, questions about coordinated efforts, utilizing the power of technology and improving access to information for patients and providers are key topics.
“We need to ask ourselves, how is it all connected so that the patient is going through an integrated system of care and experiences no drop-offs in their health care journey?” By looking at these questions together, he noted, “we are going to see more collaboration between our various committees from GPSC to SCC and SSC. That is going to be a key focus in the next three years.”
