Comments on: Understanding the Importance of Health System Funding in B.C. by Nora Whyte RN https://www.nnpbc.com/understanding-the-importance-of-health-system-funding-in-b-c/ Wed, 18 Feb 2026 19:14:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.5 By: Hannah https://www.nnpbc.com/understanding-the-importance-of-health-system-funding-in-b-c/#comment-37058 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:55:27 +0000 https://www.nnpbc.com/blog/?p=176#comment-37058 I find it troublesome that we force our family physicians to also become business-people. The fee-for-service and "patient-focused" funding models do not promote quality care or innovations where time is spent with a person to better understand their health needs from a holistic perspective thus preventing future complications. In the above models, it seems that the faster we can get the patient out the door the better it is for everyone...except the patient. As an NP, I love that I'm trained and encouraged to spend time with patients to give them a little extra education about their condition or support them in their health choices. Something as simple as taking the time to explain a treatment, procedure or medication often prevents unnecessary returns to the clinic and therefore saves the entire system a little bit. However, the time that I spend with a client is money directly out of the pocket of a GP. No wonder walk-in clinics are so much more lucrative for physicians...less ongoing responsibility, no on-call, quick visits, more money. This has resulted in a severely fragmented primary care system where more and more patients do not have a primary health care provider to help organize their care and provide the continuity so many of them need. It becomes so much more inefficient as diagnostic tests are re-ordered and symptoms left to get worse.

IMHO, it's time we moved towards health care teams where family physicians are paid a fair and equitable salary and acknowledged for their strengths as "primary health care specialists". A team where physicians are utilized and paid for their strengths in advanced primary care and not for performing basic health screening which can be done by a nurse or NP. In this model physicians, nurses, NPs, other HCPs might actually be able to truly work together without the ongoing concern for power, control and money and the primary concern would be good client care. Right provider at the right time in the right setting.

]]> By: Sharon https://www.nnpbc.com/understanding-the-importance-of-health-system-funding-in-b-c/#comment-37057 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:14:51 +0000 https://www.nnpbc.com/blog/?p=176#comment-37057 Nora

Thank you for posting about these great resources! It's so nice to see that you've included links to external reports that provide different but useful views on such an important issue.

I couldn't agree more that nurses need to educate ourselves about what is happening in the big picture in health. If we don't know what the leadership is thinking, we run the risk of having decisions being made without awareness of how they will impact us. I will be sharing this blog with my colleagues and encouraging them to read through the documents too.

]]>