Member Newsletter – June 2025
IN THIS EDITION:
Navigate to individual sections by clicking the topic headers below
APP Webinar – June 26
AGM 2025 – November 22
cSBC Advocacy
Future Funding Allocation
GIM Journal Clubs
Key Updates
Business Cost Premiums
Complex Follow Codes
Group Medical Visits
New Long COVID Echo
Retro Payments
US Trained Internists
Paul Hertz Podcast
GIM AWARDS
APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR THE 2025 AWARDS YEAR
Recognizing our colleagues across the province!
Categories:
EARLY LEADERSHIP
CAREER LEADERSHIP
EDI CHAMPION
Details HERE
APP WEBINAR
Thursday June 26th
7:30pm PST
SGIM are hosting an online event to give members the opportunity to hear the first-hand experience of one Lower Mainland hospital’s APP contract negotiation. A member of SGIMBC will present his group’s experience (and challenges) and their legal counsel, David McWhinnie will be available for a Q&A session. David has extensive experience in healthcare and employment law.
All current SGIMBC members are welcome to REGISTER, deadline June 23rd.
Questions must be submitted in advance, either upon registration or via email to membership@sgimbc.org. Deadline for question submission is June 21st.
Zoom link emailed to each registered member on the day of the Webinar.
This webinar is not intended to provide specific legal advice and discussions will focus on topics that will be applicable to multiple groups.
No recordings will be available due to the sensitive nature of this topic.
AGM 2025
Saturday November 22th
Agenda in development.
For those who attended last year and have not yet had the chance to provide feedback, PLEASE COMPLETE THIS SURVEY.
Register for the AGM by emailing membership@sgimbc.org and noting whether you will attend in person or via Zoom.
Click here for past AGM information and documentation.
KEY UPDATES
BUSINESS COST PREMIUM
Originally only applicable to outpatient fees, the BCP can now be applied to nearly ALL FEES (as of April 1, 2025). Anyone working in Vancouver, Victoria or any other community not receiving Rural Retention Program (RRP) funding is eligible. Further details found HERE on the Doctors of BC website.
GROUP MEDICAL VISITS
MSP has decided to limit ALL group medical visits (both in person and virtual) to 20 patients as of Sept 1, 2025. Unfortunately, this was done without consultation with SGIM, despite our group being one of the highest users of this fee. We understand the challenges this may cause in some specialty practices and have been advocating on behalf of members (thus far to no avail).
COMPLEX CODE FOLLOW-UP
SGIM’s request to update the complex follow up fees (32307, 32308, 32317, 32318) has been approved by the Tariff Committee (although we do not yet have a date for implementation).
Important changes include:
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- Removal of the requirement to have previously billed a complex consult. This allows complex follow-ups to be billed indefinitely after the initial consult (a consult no longer needs to have been billed within the past 6 months) and complex follow-ups can now be billed after non-complex consults (i.e. when taking over care from a non-GIM physician).
- Removal of the 10 day limit during inpatient admissions. Complex follow-ups can now be billed each day of a patients hospital admission.
- Removal of the daily maximum number of complex follow-ups than can be done per day.
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We expect these changes to be a significant boost, especially for those doing inpatient work.
FUTURE FUND ALLOCATION
We do not currently have significant funds to disperse, but the PMA is actively being negotiated. In this context, we are preparing for the future and are always interested in gathering information from members regarding future distribution of funding.
If you have not yet done so, please fill in the Disparity Survey.
RETRO PAYMENTS
You may have recently noticed several retro payments (noted on your Remittance Reports under Adjustment Code 80). SGIM continues to advocate for pay remuneration on your behalf and this is another tangible sign of our success.
cSBC ADVOCACY
cSBC have recently developed and published resources to support physician conversations with patients about wait times and the broader challenges facing our healthcare system.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS MATERIALS
Their current focus is on obtaining funding for non-clinical/administrative time, similar to what Family Physcians receive under the Longitudinal Family Practice (LFP) model. However, they are massively underfunding compared to Family Doctors of BC and need our support to continue to do this important work on behalf of all specialists.
NEW LONG COVID ECHO
For clinicians caring for people with Long COVID, you are welcome to join an ECHO community of practice, a regular virtual forum for health care professionals to learn and enhance knowledge on the condition.
This ECHO is part of the wider Long COVID WEB network spearheaded by Dr. Angela Cheung. Clinicians will have the opportunity to meet regularly in an interactive forum to keep up with the emerging evidence in this area, and to discuss their de-identified complex cases.
Led by Dr. Jane McKay (BC) and Dr. Iram Anees (NL), ECHO sessions will seek to build confidence in care provision and improve outcomes for patients.
Please register your interest to join us by signing up here (or use the below QR code):
Contact: Christine.chan@uhn.ca
Clinicians can claim Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits from attending ECHO sessions.
PHOTO REQUEST
We are updating the stock images on our website!
We want to better reflect the local GIM work and community.
If you’d like to showcase your own ‘real GIM’ photos, please submit them to:
membership@sgimbc.org
Preference for high-resolution JPEG files if possible.
Photos would not be shared with third parties, not used anywhere besides the SGIMBC official website, and credits/links will be noted if requested.
US TRAINED INTERNISTS
As many of you may have heard, there has been a significant push from the government to attract US-trained physicians to Canada. This includes all specialties but is of particular interest to SGIM given the differences in the training and practice of Internal Medicine in Canada vs the US.
For further information, please read this letter sent on behalf to SGIM to the College of Physicians of BC as well as a recent Podcast with Paul Hertz as a guest.
PODCAST
Curious about what it’s like to practice medicine in Canada compared to the US?
Our own SGIMBC President, Dr. Paul Hertz, joins the host of The Interesting MD. They talk about the differences in pay, lifestyle, and healthcare systems here and across the border.
Further audio links/details HERE
Importantly, we have been reassured that US-trained Internists with only 3 years of IM training will NOT be eligible for GIM codes (i.e. 311), even if the College rules allow them a full license to practice here in BC. This would only make them eligible for IM codes (i.e. 310).
GIM JOURNAL CLUBS
A new resource has been added to the members-only section of the SGIMBC website!
We will be posting the Journal Club schedules (including topics and speakers) for UBC’s Faculty of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine and the Division of General Internal Medicine – Community.
We hope this helps our members have a central web location to stay updated on the latest medical research, develop critical appraisal skills, and foster a learning community.
Upcoming GIM Journal Club:
Wednesday, June 25th, 12:00-1:00pm PST
Hybrid Meeting
Dr. Stephen Cho
Infections in Standard or Tapered Dose of Prednisolone for Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis: A Randomized Trial (STASH Trial)
Location/Link information found HERE.
