Key Success Factors
and Pitfalls
Remuneration
Primary Care Toolkit for Family Physicians
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
Keys to Success
A variety of remuneration methods are currently being used in several primary care models. When considering a switch from one remuneration scheme to another, family physicians should take measures of success into account. These include opportunities to improve work-life balance, such as:
- Increased professional income
- Increased job satisfaction
- Time and support for continuing professional development
- Acceptable after-hours work scheduling
- Acceptable amount of holiday time and "free " weekends
Family physicians will also not be satisfied with changes in remuneration models unless they are conducive to improved patient satisfaction and access to care for their patients. For instance, the push of governments to increase the number of patients rostered to a family practice group may not lead to better satisfaction for family physicians and their patients if it decreases access to care for patients and/or adversely upsets the appropriate balance of professional and personal time for family physicians.
What is clear is that there is significant inter- and intra-provincial / territorial variation in remuneration models, with particular differences noted between those developed in urban and rural communities. Detailed reviews of the literature indicate a need for flexibility in model development in order to develop an array of services that meet local need and take into account the availability of community-based resources.