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VOLCANOES: HOW WORRIED SHOULD WE BE?
A volcanologist provides reassurance
Get your car spring ready See our annual special section PAGE 14
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2024
S Q U A M I S H C H I E F. C O M
HEALTH CARE IMPROVING; STILL WORK TO DO: DOCTOR
Changes to the funding model allow more doctors to remain in family practice SCOTT TIBBALLS
stibballs@piquenewsmagazine.com
A
PHOTO BY JENNIFER THUNCHER/ THE SQUAMISH CHIEF
NEW CONDOS: Volunteers with the Squamish Environment Society finished installing the second of two purple martin nesting box structures in the Squamish Estuary on Sunday. The migrating martins are expected to arrive any day. Some boxes include cameras that will provide valuable research information about the birds.
LIVE ON ESTUARY TRAIL
year on from changes to the provincial funding model for family physicians, a Squamish-based doctor says that health care in British Columbia is back from the brink. “It’s allowed us to actually survive,” said Dr. Lawrence Klein in an interview with The Squamish Chief. “I would say it’s been our salvation—we would not have viable primary care in British Columbia if this had not happened.” The changes to the funding model—referred to by the provincial government as the ‘Longitudinal Family Physician (LFP) Payment Model’—were introduced in February 2023, and serve to better compensate family physicians by the number of patients they see, and the complexity of patient cases. The previous model saw doctors compensated per patient, without any heed to the complexity of cases, or how long patients needed to be seen. Klein, who has worked in Squamish since the mid-90s, said that the community has benefited greatly from the changes because previously, a combination of factors, including poor compensation (through the single-payer fee-for-service model) and DOCTORS: Continued on 5
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