Medical society introduces new model for more, same-day doctor appointments

A new model for family medicine in New Brunswick hopes to make it easier for people to get same-day appointments, even if their doctor is away on vacation.

The New Brunswick Medical Society introduced the model this week, inviting family physicians in the same community or in close proximity to join into teams.

Each doctor will continue to have their own roster of patients, said Dr. Lynn Murphy-Kaulbeck, the society's president.

But if one physician in the group is away or not available, the others can jump in and look after their patients until they return.

"Hopefully [this model] will lead to better patient access and care," said Murphy-Kaulbeck.

"And as we know that people who have a primary physician are better informed, patients are going to make better decisions, and overall we'll have a healthier population."

More evening, weekend hours

Murphy-Kaulbeck said the model was developed by taking examples from different patient care systems across the country.

Doctors joining into teams will have access to patient information through the provincial electronic medical record system.

As a group, they'll have to provide evening and weekend hours, as well as phone and email consultations, she added. Doctorsare also encouraged to hire nurses to help out.

Butthe medical society will help out with overhead costs for setting up the groups, and leaves it up to each team how to best structure their late and weekend shifts.

"We hear from so many people that they can't come between eight and five, they need another time to get in, and this model will allow for that," said Murphy-Kaulbeck.

Paid for timely care

In return, doctors will get paid not only on a per-patient basis but also receive an "access adjustment" for providing patients with timely care, either through their own or another physician in the group.

• New Brunswick health care earns overall C grade from watchdog

If a patient visits a doctor outside the group, or goes to an after-hours clinic instead, that adjustment is reduced.

Health MinisterVictor Boudreau said New Brunswick has one of the highest rates of family physicians that work in solo practices.

While the province is ranked first in the country for physician access 93 per cent of New Brunswickers have a family doctor it's one of the worst "when it comes to same-day, next-day access," he said.

"So that tells us that we don't use our resources that we have here adequately and that's because a lot of doctors work in solo practices."

Reduce number of doctor visits

Boudreau hopes the model will encourage doctors to spend more time with their patients, and in return reduce the frequency of patient visits.

He hopes that at least 50 doctors will enroll in the model by the end of this year, and about 100 by year three.

The Department of Health will also cover the administrative cost for the model, which is $2 million a year, while the medical society will help doctors with overhead costs and setting up the system for accessing electronic patient records.

"We just think that it's great that this is something that came from the physicians themselves," he said. "And this is a model that we think can work in New Brunswick."