September 22, 2009


Dear Fellow SGFP Members:

The Section on General & Family Practice (SGFP) is excited to launch its revamped website/intranet www.sgfpnet.ca to members.  The website has two components – a password protected private (intranet) site for SGFP members only and a public site.  Currently, the public site has the SGFP advertisement that can be seen in the edition of Maclean’s Magazine currently on the newsstands.  The ad was in Saturday’s Globe and Mail  (September 19) and will be printed in the Toronto Star this Wednesday in conjunction with the launch of the SGFP public relations campaign on September 23.  Click on www.sgfpnet.ca to view the ad and, while you are at it, register for the private site by clicking on I want to sign up! on the log-in area at the top right area of the public page.  Detailed instructions are attached and there is an on-line help button close to the log-in area should you need additional assistance.  Everyone who registers needs to be authorized by OMA staff before being permitted on the site.  Please note that this can take up to 24 hours and possibly longer on weekends.  We ask for your patience.

The purpose of the members-only intranet is three-fold:  1) to improve communications between our members, and between our members and the SGFP Executive by providing forums and groups; 2) to provide a “one stop shopping” service for the billing and practice documents, information and forms you need to operate your offices effectively; and 3) to provide members with up-to-date information on issues important to family practitioners.

On-line Forums
We consider the on-line forums an important service to our members.  We ask for your support keeping the forums a credible and useful communication tool by always treating your fellow members and their opinions with respect.  We look forward to lively discussions which will, of course, include differences of opinion but we ask that you refrain from making comments that could be taken as derogatory and offensive to others.  These forums provide an opportunity to discuss medical issues, ideas and concerns including medical politics. We look forward to healthy discussion following appropriate decorum becoming of our profession.  Exchanges, regardless of how carefully we protect the privacy of our forums, can become public and it would be unfortunate to have the actions of a few destroy the reputations of the rest of our members at a time when we are seeking the good-will of the public and the media will be focusing on the profession.  Please post on the forum accordingly.  Attempts will be made to moderate the forums, but, again, we count on the professionalism of all colleagues to prevail.

Billing and Practice Assistance
Three of the seven tabs in the private site (Billing, Practice and Common Forms) have been set aside to provide you with easy access to information that will help you operate your office more effectively.  We tried to make the site a “one stop shopping” area for family practice friendly tools.  We urge you to make the site your home page since it contains a built-in Google search engine as well.
Current items of interest are on-line copies of the Spring 2009 Billing and Practice Guide for Family Physicians and the Common Fee Codes List as of Fall 2008.  We are currently updating the Common Fee Codes List to reflect changes that come into effect October 1, 2009.  We hope to post it on the site as soon as it is finalized which we anticipate will be early to mid- October.  The laminated folder version will still be mailed to all members sometime in November.  A new SGFP on-line tool that has just been posted on the site is a list of all the commonly used Q-codes with links to the MOHLTC Directives describing the codes and providing information on how to use them.  You will find this tool under the Billing tab=>Q-Codes.  The only code that doesn’t have a link is Q005A but we plan to have this corrected soon.

Family Practice News/Information
Media items of interest to family physicians are posted daily under the News and Events tab => Media Updates and are a must read for any well-informed member.  Other events and items of interest are contained in the Upcoming Events area.

Assistance
A “Live Support” button is on the site to provide assistance to members experiencing technical difficulties.  You will get a quick response if the button says “on-line”.  If the button says “off-line” you will get a message advising when to expect a response to your issue.  For non-technical issues you can add your issues/comments in the forum area.  You may also send comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Security
The member information obtained when you register for the private site will be used by the SGFP (1) to permit staff to confirm that only SGFP members are allowed on the private site and (2) to allow the SGFP Executive to send you Section-related communications.  The information will not be used for any other purpose.  In addition, the information is for the use of the SGFP only and is not being collected for use by the OMA.

We are proud of www.sgfpnet.ca and have taken steps to ensure that it is kept up-to-date, relevant and lively.  We consider it a dynamic entity that will constantly change to reflect the needs of our members.  We are also asking you, our members, to contact us with information and/or ideas that other members might find useful and/or interesting.  The intranet is – and will continue to be – a work in progress which we anticipate will constantly improve.

Sincerely,



Chair                                                               Chair
Section on General & Family Practice (SGFP)        SGFP Public Relations & Communications Committee

FROM DR. DAVID BRIDGEO, CHAIR, SECTION ON GENERAL & FAMILY PRACTICE (SGFP)

Fellow Members of the Section, The dog days of August are passed and our lives are now returning to normal.  The last few months have been busy at the Section on General & Family Practice (SGFP). Several projects and current issues have been the main focus of our activities here, as we move into the month of September.

SGFP Public Relations Campaign

We are preparing to move into our fall public relations campaign, which will see promotional ads in several of the major media markets throughout Ontario.  These have been designed to promote the role of family physicians and to raise our profile in an era where other health care professionals feel they can do most of what we do.  The campaign will also assist us to begin positioning ourselves for the next round of negotiations.  These ads are styled somewhat like the “chartered accountants” campaign which you may recall over the past year or so.   Because of the cost involved in large scale media promotion, we will be relying on you to again help in the way of donations in order to support the ongoing process.  The more money we can raise, the more elaborate campaign we can target to the public and to government.  Please consider completing the attached form and mailing your donation back to us so next year we can expand the campaign. 

Website and Online Forum

As many of you know, there is no longer a members' forum on the OMA website.  Your Executive feels that an interactive forum is an important venue to air issues, exchange ideas and provide a sense of community.  As a result, we are starting a forum on our new website, which will work somewhat similar to the old OMA forum.  When we launch the site on Monday, September 21st, I encourage you to sign up, read up on the forum points and feel free to add your ideas or thoughts.  I encourage you to comment and provide your opinion on issues surrounding the profession, medical care, and medical politics issues.  There will also be a number of resources, links to forms, and other helpful information, such as office practice management, which you will find informative and of use in your daily practice.  If you have any helpful websites, form suggestions or other practice management tools that you would like to share, I encourage you to do so. 

Practice Model Restrictions

Many of you are aware that the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) recently placed some restrictions on movement between primary care models.  While this issue seems to have been resolved for the most part, we would be interested in hearing from any members who are experiencing difficulties migrating from FHGs to FHOs, etc.  Please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your concerns.

Blood Borne Pathogens

As of this year, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) is requiring that blood borne pathogen infections, including HIV status be reported on the annual renewal form for those in certain designated higher risk areas of practice.  The timing of this regulation was ill advised, since there is really no safety net for physicians who may be caught in a situation where their HIV status is positive and, therefore, their ability to work is severely hindered.  I encourage all members to seek out their local CPSO representative and make it clear to him or her that a safety net needs to be in place vis-à-vis an appropriate and easily available disability insurance program that covers blood-borne pathogens.  It seems they have gone ahead with this policy without thinking about the devastation it could potentially have for individual members.

Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and MD Management Issues

A number of our members have expressed concern that employees of MD management (particularly, their financial advisors) are being pressured to give financial advice which may not necessarily be in the best interest of our members.  I would encourage you to let us know if you have encountered this type of issue.  It is of the utmost importance that our MD management advisors are able to give us unbiased advice, which is in OUR best interests based on individual circumstances.  This issue was addressed and discussed at CMA General Council in order to see what remedies can be brought forth.  While this is not a section specific issue per se, it has been raised by a sufficient number of our members.  Again, please let me know if you have run across this problem or have had concerns about the advice given to you by MD Management financial advisors. 

Presentation re Bill 179

In September, a number of interested groups, including our Section, will be presenting our thoughts and concerns regarding Bill 179, the Regulated Health Professions Law Amendment Act, to the Standing Committee on Social Policy.  This act, which has now passed second reading, contains a number of recommendations to change the laws governing scope of practice of several different health professional groups.  It is the position of the Section, and that of the Association, that many of these changes may impact upon patient safety.  Therefore, the government must ensure that a corresponding regulatory framework is in place that protects patients. 

MedsCheck Program

As part of the Ministry of Health’s MedsCheck Program, Pharmacists are now able to bill a fee of $50 for reviewing a patient’s medications if the patient takes three or more medications.  Some of our members are reporting that they are receiving fax updates, requests for clarification, requests for lab reports, and medication recommendations from local pharmacists, who request responses to these inquiries.  Up to this point, the Ministry of Health has not agreed to provide any financial compensation for our time to deal with these inquiries.  Until this issue has been properly worked out, and appropriate compensation for our time is determined, we are recommending that members not respond to these requests.  Of course, individual members are free to deal with these issues as they see fit.  One way members may wish to handle these inquiries is by recalling the patient to the office to deal with the issue, especially where patient safety is concerned.

Tariff and Sectional Allocation

By now I hope that you have completed the SGFP Tariff Survey sent on August 20^th to voice your preferences for dividing up the funds allotted to family physicians for 2010.  The deadline date for the SGFP submission is September 21st and the SGFP Tariff Committee have been working diligently on this project.  The SGFP Executive also spent most of its August 29, 2009 meeting discussing this issue as well. All in all, it will be a busy and challenging year ahead.  Stay tuned for further updates, and watch for our new news-line format, which will begin with our next communication.