Why some BC walk-in clinics are closing early right now
Posted January 17, 2017 11:50 am.
Last Updated January 17, 2017 12:55 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Have you tried to go to a walk-in clinic recently, only to pull on the door handle and realize it’s closed?
It would seem some smaller health care facilities are struggling to cope with an influx of patients right now and it’s a problem happening province-wide.
With this season’s particularly nasty flu strain, people have been flooding to clinics, explains Founding Director of the Walk-in Clinics of BC Association Mike McLoughlin.
However, some facilities have posted signs saying they may have to shut their doors early because the doctor has reached the government-imposed billing cap for the day.
“After 50 patients, the clinic and the physician only get paid 50 per cent of the billing and then after 65 patients, they don’t get paid at all.”
McLoughlin says he’d like the provincial government to take a more flexible approach to billing limits.
“They need to have a flexible solution for managing the daily billing of patients in a primary care situation so that it takes into account heavy times of year when there’s a flu season, or when there’s heavy demand for services on a daily basis.”
He suggests changing the cap to 65, or setting weekly or monthly caps instead of daily ones.
