Thanks for your efforts and voice in this campaign @samchandola. The timing wasn't right for CentreBC in terms of preparation and then the Conservative pivot from KLF-crazy to kindler-and-gentler Lorne decreased the perceived need for an alternative. If the Cons are able to govern in a sane, moderate, and effective manner, there will be less impetus for a strong Centrist alternative. If they revert to type (which I hope they don't), that changes things. And if so, I know we've learned our lesson on being prepared.

Their platform was pulled out of their ass... it's a marketing document quickly slammed together to present the kind of image they wanted to run on to attract votes. I don't know what they'll do in government. Frankly, I don't think they do either. The most honest part was the health care thing where it says they'll take 100 days to figure it out. This election wasn't about policy. It's not ideal, but I'm ok with that.

It's telling that with all the public and private "well wishes" I've received by commenting on this issue, people think I want the clinic to shut down and the patients to be abandoned. Nobody has asked what I would do. What I wouldn't do is cave to his demands to go back on the group fee codes again, for reasons I've already explained. And also, if it wasn't already clear, I blame the clinic management for what's happened, not the patients. And for the record, I hope that all the patients in the clinic can access the full medical services they need meeting professional standards of care. In the interim, I don't want patients to suddenly lose the health services (a subset of them medical services) that they have been depending on. So here's what I'd do. The province should offer them a deal. Basically a one-time emergency bailout, as they've done for other clinics in the past. Somewhere under $1m. In return, they agree to continue operating the clinic as it has been with same level of services for one year, plus agree to secure additional funding to operate for a further one year. In addition to strict conditions on what they can bill MSP for and service level guarantees (and auditing of same), it would also require a full accounting of expenditures. And a pre-determined cap on take-home fees for the clinic physicians (and close associates).

Pathetic that with healthcare as one of the most pressing challenges, both major parties have continued to ignore experts, put out vague platforms rich in delusions, and refuse to commit to real public accountability to ensure the billions we spend produce real results.

Reality is very different. Fee decisions are made by a committee w/ membership from MOH and DoBC. They made the right decision here. Let me explain why (sorry, this is long). This clinic (and a few others) have been misusing a very large loophole in the specialist fee schedule that allowed them to offer glorified webinars to large number of patients and bill $1500-$2000 per hour or more while doing so. (Briefly, the group medical visit codes were intended for very interactive group learning where people had the opportunity to get their individual needs addressed. Nobody envisioned 50-100 person groups, which don't allow that. But that's what they were doing) Nearly two years ago, MSP said that wasn't going to fly, and made some administrative changes that closed the loophole. They pushed back and the changes were deferred. At no time did MSP ever tell the clinic what they were doing was acceptable. What the clinic owner should have done is sought appropriate funding outside of standard MSP fees (which, after all, cover only 19% of expenses in our health system). He didn't. So when new rules were announced, which were a compromise and a long-time coming, he pretended this was all coming out of the blue and designed to hurt his patients. Bull shit. Oh, and the reason it would be a bad idea to green light what he was doing under MSP? Because MSP fees describe what is considered acceptable medical services and also defines incentives (in terms of $$$) to encourage desirable behaviours and discourage undesirable ones. What he wanted would be the equivalent of a flashing sign to EVERY specialist in BC saying "please stop offering individual, intensive, specialized assessment and treatment to patients. we will instead pay you 5x as much to not see patients individually but instead run large-scale webinars." That's why closing the loopholes in those fee codes were needed. You're absolutely right that shutting down the clinic makes no financial sense, as it provides support (if not always actual medical care) to thousands of patients. It just shouldn't be funded by general MSP fees. The clinic should have pursued that rather than putting their patients' wellbeing at risk when they had ample notice this was going to happen. I've suggested what should be done in the short-term given the situation the clinic (not the government) put us in… xitter.cf/markroseman/status/211…