Clinician | Provider
Letter Template

Send to the Health Minister, Josie Osborne: HLTH.Minister@gov.bc.ca
CC the President, Doctors of BC, Dr. Adam Thompson: president@doctorsofbc.ca
CC the President, Consultant Specialists of BC, Dr. Robert Carruthers president@specialistsofbc.ca
CC the Chief Medical Officer of BC Family Doctors, Dr. Renee Fernandez: renee.fernandez@bcfamilydocs.ca
CC LifeLineBC for data tracking: info@lifelinebc.ca

Copy/paste the text below into your email body, replace any red text, and edit as you see fit.

Dear Minister Osborne,

I am a [TYPE OF PHYSICIAN] in [CITY NAME] who has several patients with complex, chronic illness who are treated at the BC-Centre for Long Covid, ME/CFS, and Fibromyalgia (BC-CLMF). I am writing to ask you to raise the incoming cap on Virtual Group Medical Visits from the proposed 20 (or 30, as some sources suggest) to 50 to allow the BC-CLMF clinic to continue providing effective care for these patients. If this doesn’t happen, the clinic will collapse and its 6,000+ patients will be forced back into an already over burdened health care system.

Complex Chronic Disease patients have a multitude of complicated symptoms and related diagnoses. Treating them requires specialized care. Having referred my patients to this clinic, I can attest to the important savings of time to referring physicians that the clinic delivers: I spend less time with these patients overall. Their complex symptomatology is being expertly addressed in detail by the clinic. My patients report high satisfaction both with the high quality of their care and with their ability to see a specialist at the clinic quickly in virtual format promptly upon referring, which eliminates gaps in care. Because patients are seen in virtual group medical visits which last an hour, my patients learn more from a visit than they otherwise would, since many other patients are on these virtual calls, and multiple symptoms and treatments are discussed, ensuring individualized care. Ultimately, the BC-CLMF clinic has reduced the burden on my practice by properly treating this patient group with expert care and knowledge about their illness.

The clinic hired MNP, a consultant regularly used by both the Ministry of Health and Doctors of BC for fee code consultations, to opine on the clinic's impact on BC's healthcare system. This study shows the clinic's annual activities saves the health care system in foregone charges more than it generates in billings. 80%+ of patients report symptom improvement and 17%+ of previously non-working patients returned to work. These are exceptionally good numbers for this patient population. They reflect care that is meaningful.

I understand that the BC-CLMF clinic group visit model will be drastically curtailed or eliminated altogether unless you take corrective action now. Please raise the incoming cap on Virtual Group Medical Visits to 50 and allow these physicians to continue to deliver effective care.

Respectfully,

[SIGNATURE]

[digitally signed]

cc: President, Doctors of BC
cc: President, Consultant Specialists of BC
cc: Chief Medical Officer, BC Family Doctors
cc: LifeLineBC