March 2021

The monthly E-News shares provincial program information and updates about the Facility Engagement (FE) initiative. As this information will be of interest to Medical Staff Association (MSA) support teams, please feel free to forward the newsletter to MSA executives and heath authority (HA) partners. 

MSA Dues Information Collection

Thank you to everyone who responded to our request for information about current MSA practices for collecting and managing MSA dues. The responses helped inform our assessment of the current state and provide support or guidance. Based on the responses received, we learned that:

• The majority of MSAs that collect dues use an online payment option.
• Reminders about membership dues are most often sent via email, and supplemented via website or hardcopy letter (for final reminder notices).
• With assistance from project staff, the Secretary-Treasurer is most often responsible for collecting dues.
• Approximately 78% of MSA members pay dues.

If your MSA is struggling with MSA dues collection or management, please email the PM Helpdesk (pmhelpdesk@facilityengagement.ca) for support and guidance.

FEMS: COVID-19 Engagement Activity – Adding Participants

If you are trying to add participants to the fall/winter COVID-19 engagement activity in FEMS, here are some key notes as per the Ministry COVID-19 Payment Process letter sent to MSAs on November 18, 2020:

• MSA support teams cannot add participants to the activity.
• All doctors registered in FEMS have been added to the engagement activity by the FEMS developer. 
• The list of participants in the engagement activity is not visible to MSAs; MSAs will only see their MSA President and Jessica Fedor from the provincial FE team.
• New doctors who register in FEMS will automatically be added to the activity.
• No action is required by the MSAs.

Should a doctor have issues making a claim to this activity, please contact femssupport@doctrosofbc.ca.   

FEMS: 30-Day Accrual Reminder

For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, the accrual period for claims is reduced from 60 to 30 days. This will help ensure that claims for activities prior to April 1 will be allocated to the correct fiscal year and help complete year-end activities in a more timely manner.

Example 1:

Physician completes activity on February 15, 2021, and submits the claim in FEMS on April 1; the claim is approved on April 15, 2021. This claim will be back dated to March 31, 2021 to be captured in the 2020/21 fiscal year.

Example 2:

Physician completes activity on February 15, 2021, and submits the claim in FEMS on May 15, the claim is approved on May 15, 2021. This claim will be captured in the 2021/22 fiscal year.

If you have any questions regarding the accrual period, please contact femssupport@doctorsofbc.ca.

REMINDER: Gate Release End of Fiscal 2020/21

MSAs/Physician Societies may have cancelled/postponed engagement activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have affected their financial situations or next gate release.

To support sites that have not accessed their full allocation, there is a one-time change to the gated funding policy for the current fiscal year.

Sites with remaining funding gates in 2020/21 will automatically receive a transfer of the next gated amount.

• This will be regardless of meeting the predefined qualification.
• This is not in addition to the 2020/21 funding allocation.

MSAs/Physician Societies who receive the additional gate may have a higher account balance as of April 1, 2021; this may impact the timing of accessing funding gates in 2021/22.

For questions about the transfer, contact engagement@doctorsofbc.ca.

Webinar: PM Helpdesk Lunch and Learn

Our Lunch and Learn sessions continue to be a hit! Thank you to those who joined our February session, and provided feedback. If you would like to provide feedback on the February session please complete the survey.

Those who missed the February webinar about getting ready for year-end watch the recorded presentation (skip to the 47-minute mark).

Our next Lunch and Learn will be on Tuesday, March 16th, 12 – 1 pm (link to Zoom):

• Community Building:  Engaging with First Nations Partners. Share your successes!
• Learning: Getting Ready for Next Year – Creating a Budget. Set-up for success in FEMS.

Did you know...?  In old Roman calendars, one year used to be ten months long, starting in March and ending in December. So Happy New Year to the Romans!

Do you have ideas on future e-news topics?

Please let us know at engagement@doctorsofbc.ca 

engagement@doctorsofbc.ca I www.facilityengagement.ca 

Facility Engagement is an initiative of the Specialist Services Committee, one of four joint collaborative committees that represent a partnership of the Government of BC and Doctors of BC.

Want to learn what’s happening in your community?

Check out the Divisions Dispatch, an e-newsletter published by the Divisions of Family Practice initiative which is funded by the General Practice Services Committee.