Specialist Services Committee Meeting Summaries

September 2025

• The SSC met on September 25, 2025. 
  • The SSC committee welcomed new co-chairs, Dr Daisy Dulay, Doctors of BC Physician Co-Chair, and Amanda Thompson, Ministry of Health (MOH) Co-Chair, as well as new members Drs Angel Arnaout, Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) Representative, and Ka Wai Cheung, SSC Facility Engagement (FE) Working Group Interim Co-Chair.
  • All SSC initiatives presented 2025-26 work plan progress updates, highlighting their impact on advancing the SSC’s Strategic Framework pillars, and sharing upcoming initiative priorities. 
  • The table discussed SSC governance and agreed that a clear understanding of members’ roles, SSC’s governance structure, and decision-making needs to be established. A needs assessment will be conducted amongst SSC members to determine the curriculum, delivery method and audience of governance upskilling that will be implemented with a two-eyed approach that combines Indigenous and Western ways of knowing.   
  • The SSC directed staff to connect with the Doctors of BC’s ISAR Committee to incorporate Indigenous perspectives into the SSC Work Plan by securing Indigenous representation at the Work Plan Working Group. 
  • Staff will also explore ways to conduct committee-wide ISAR training and report this back to SSC in November.

June 2025

• The SSC met on June 12, 2025.
  • To facilitate the work planning process for FY2026-27, the SSC established a Work Plan Working Group consisting of SSC initiative working group co-chairs and SSC members, including non-voting members, to promote inclusivity in developing the SSC’s work plan.
  • The Rural Specialist Access Project was approved in collaboration with the JSC. This project aims to improve access to specialist care in rural populations by identifying training and ongoing professional development needs for specialists practicing in rural communities, developing strategies to address training gaps, and supporting specialists interested in building outreach clinics.
  • The June meeting marked the final meeting of Doctors of BC SSC Co-Chair Dr Jason Kur. Dr Elizabeth Thompson will fill the role of Interim SSC Co-Chair, Doctors of BC, until a new appointment is made.  
  • The committee reviewed updates regarding the draft agenda and keynote speaker for the October 6, 2025 SSC Summit, which will take place as part of the JCC Conference. 
  • Staff shared a comprehensive overview of the SSC Initiative Working Group governance structures, including mandates, membership, scope, and decision-making processes. 
  • The SSC endorsed a proposal for Improving Access to Specialist Care for Rural Communities, a joint project between the SSC and JSC. The SSC and JSC co-chairs will meet to make a joint decision on the funding proposal after the SSC and JSC June meetings. 
  • The committee discussed applying the Quintuple Aim framework to demonstrate SSC’s impact, and members identified SSC’s top priorities within the Quintuple Aim domains, in alignment with SSC’s vision to improve access to high-quality, patient-centred, and culturally safe specialty care.
  • The preliminary timeline for developing the SSC FY2026-27 work plan was outlined, and the committee discussed strategies to involve SSC members in the process, including holding more frequent meetings and forming a time-limited working group to incorporate the committee’s feedback into the work plan. 
  • Updates were provided on the Physician Leadership Scholarship Program (PLSP). Program applications reopened on April 7, 2025, with some changes to ensure sustainability, including a reduction in the annual allotment per applicant, a lifetime policy for the master’s program, and operational updates to improve services and reduce the administrative burden. These program changes have resulted in the creation of 277 additional opportunities for new physicians to participate in the program.
  • SSC and JSC Co-Chairs approved a one-time funding proposal for Improving Access to Specialist Care for Rural Communities.   
• Health Authority (HA) and Ministry of Health capacity is limited due to budget constraints, which is impacting the progress of some Quality Improvement projects. 
• On May 29, 2025, the Facilities Engagement Working Group (FEWG) reviewed the current spending for physician lounge provisions (food and beverages), noting that lounge expense budgets have become a significant percentage of annual allocations for some MSAs. A funding guideline was passed that would limit lounge provision funding to a maximum of 5% of an MSA’s annual FE allocation.
• SSC milestones for this period: 
  • Ten physician-led Perioperative Clinical Action Network (PCAN) Innovation projects have launched, each addressing one of PCAN’s surgical priorities: equitable access (one), cancer care (two), prehabilitation (five), and enhanced recovery after surgery (one).
  • The Same-Day Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Spreading Quality Improvement (SQI) project in Fraser Health has improved hospital workflow, bed allocation, and operating room utilization at Burnaby Hospital. The project has recently been published in BMJ Open Quality.
  • A six-part Facility Engagement (FE) Engagement Model has been created to support individuals (e.g., physicians, leaders) and groups (e.g., Medical Staff Associations (MSAs), HAs) in building strong physician engagement within their organizations.

May 2025

The SSC full committee did not meet in May. 

April 2025

• The SSC met on April 24, 2025. 
  • The committee approved additional allocation amounts for Physician Quality Improvement (PQI) programs, which will be added to the health authority (HA) base budgets and reflected in the funding transfer agreement issued in late April 2025. 
  • In early March, SSC received additional funding from the New Fee Item Fund from the PMA 2023-24 underspend, and from additional projected underspend from SSC’s 2024-25 budget. The following proposals were approved for 2025-26:
    • Funding to the Consultant Specialists Team Care initiative will support cohort 2 contracts to allow specialists more time to collect data and implement their team model. Funding will also support the initiative to conduct a sustainability evaluation, design the UBC curriculum, revise the Toolkit, and support expert clinical faculty in engaging with a strategic task force (Doctors of BC, SSC, and Consultant Specialists of BC) to develop a scalable and future state for the initiative. 
    • Quality Improvement Central funds will pay physician advisors for their time to support the six HA teams and the QI Working Group in executing the overall QI workplan.
  • Two other proposals, one supporting Specialist Practice Advancement (SPA) Infrastructure for Community Based Specialists, and one from the Health Innovation Pathway Program with the Ministry of Health, were submitted. The SSC requested more information before a decision could be made.
• Fraser Health’s Spreading Seed Localization for Non-Palpable Breast Lesions Project has secured sponsorship from the health authority to fund and implement seed technology at six sites.
• In collaboration with the MOH, the representation of Doctors of BC at the Provincial Surgical Executive Committee (PSEC) was successfully secured. This milestone enhances front-line physician involvement in setting shared provincial surgical priorities with the Ministry of Health aligned with provincial strategies and mandates, including the integration and standardization of best practices, clinical pathways, and innovation across health authorities.  

• SSC Milestones for April: 
  • Fraser Health’s Spreading Seed Localization for Non-Palpable Breast Lesions Project has secured sponsorship from the health authority to fund and implement seed technology at six sites.
  • In collaboration with the MOH, the representation of Doctors of BC at the Provincial Surgical Executive Committee (PSEC) was successfully secured. This milestone enhances front-line physician involvement in setting shared provincial surgical priorities with the Ministry of Health aligned with provincial strategies and mandates, including the integration and standardization of best practices, clinical pathways, and innovation across health authorities.  

March 2025

• The SSC held an ad hoc meeting on March 14 to discuss two issues related to the FY2025-26 SSC Workplan and Budget: 1. Health Authority (HA) Base Fund Transfer Agreement Allocations for QI programs and, 2. Allocation ideas for unanticipated additional one-time funding that the SSC will receive in 2025-26.
  • 2025-26 HA FTA allocations were determined to ensure program continuity relative to decreased one-time funding and in the context of a more constrained fiscal environment broadly.  
  • The SSC approved allocations as a base (minimum) with the following conditions:
    1. The outstanding HA FTA budget allocation decisions will be developed using a collaborative process through the SSC Quality Improvement Working Group (QIWG) and HA SSC Steering Committees, and with consideration for rural geography, impact and number of physicians.
    2. For 2026-27 onwards, the SSC QIWG and the six HA SSC Steering Committees will collaborate to develop an allocation framework that incorporates factors such as rural geography, impact, number of physicians, and the current fiscal environment. The framework will be recommended to the SSC for final approval and implementation.  
  • The SSC will allocate additional one-time funds due to an underspend from the PMA’s New Fee Item Fund 2023-24 and a projected underspend from SSC’s 2024-25 Workplan at their April meeting based on member proposals. 
  • The SSC 2025-2030 strategic framework was approved at the February 20 SSC meeting. 
  • Cohort 2 of the Consultant Specialist Team Care (CSTC) Collaborative concluded on February 28, culminating in a virtual outcomes congress with 22 CSTC teams.
    
• SSC Milestones for March: 
  • The SSC 2025-2030 strategic framework was approved at the February 20SSC meeting. 

February 2025

• The SSC met on February 20, 2025. Due to scheduling conflicts, there was not a quorum of Ministry members. Decisions and meeting were formalized with the Ministry Co-Chair the week of February 24, including:
  • Allocation of returned ongoing funding within the SSC 2025-26 Workplan and Budget, following consultation with SSC initiative working groups and Consultant Specialists of BC.   
  • Development of criteria and decision-making principles for returned one-time funding, which will be allocated to a provincial contingency fund accessible to SSC initiatives (excluding Facility Engagement) and emergent priorities in 2025-26. 
  • Committee consultation on recommendations for the Physician Leadership Scholarship program.
  • Committee consultation on beginning the process of standardizing the initiative level Working Group Terms of Reference across SSC, in an effort to strengthen governance and enhance transparency.
• On November 7, the Consultant Specialist Team Care All-Team Day of Learning was held in Vancouver, attended by 23 specialists and their teams. The session used networking to identify solutions for challenges facing teams and explored change ideas to improve clinic efficiency and meet patient expectations.
• The Perioperative Clinical Action Network (PCAN) Summit 2024 took place on November 18, with 154 participants (47 SPs, 10 FPs). 88% of participants reported increased knowledge of BC surgical strategies.
• The Physician Quality Improvement and Spreading Quality Improvement initiatives held a 2-day Regional Team Forum, bringing together over 80 regional staff and physician advisors from across BC.
• The implementation of preoperative optimization in British Columbia: a quality improvement initiative was published in the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, showcasing the work of the Surgical Patient Optimization Collaborative (SPOC).
• Cohort 2 of the Consultant Specialist Team Care (CSTC) Collaborative concluded on Feb 28, culminating in a virtual outcomes congress.  22 CSTC teams presented on their team care models and shared their learnings.  A final evaluation report is currently being developed.  At the time of the congress, 97% (n=487) of patients indicated that they had experienced an improved experience due to team care, 85% (20/23) of care providers reported improved job satisfaction because of working in a team care model, and specialists demonstrated increased access to specialist care by increasing the number of new consults per clinic day by 31%.
• The new SSC Strategic Framework has been finalized, and endorsement was received from SSC members.

• SSC Milestones November to February: 
  • On November 7, the Consultant Specialist Team Care All-Team Day of Learning was held in Vancouver, attended by 23 specialists and their teams. The session used networking to identify solutions for challenges facing teams and explored change ideas to improve clinic efficiency and meet patient expectations.
  • The Perioperative Clinical Action Network (PCAN) Summit 2024 took place on November 18, with 154 participants (47 SPs, 10 FPs). 88% of participants reported increased knowledge of BC surgical strategies.
  • The Physician Quality Improvement and Spreading Quality Improvement initiatives held a 2-day Regional Team Forum, bringing together over 80 regional staff and physician advisors from across BC.
  • The implementation of preoperative optimization in British Columbia: a quality improvement initiative was published in the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, showcasing the work of the Surgical Patient Optimization Collaborative (SPOC).
  • Cohort 2 of the Consultant Specialist Team Care (CSTC) Collaborative concluded on February 28, culminating in a virtual outcomes congress.  22 CSTC teams presented on their team care models and shared their learnings.  A final evaluation report is currently being developed.  At the time of the congress, 97% (n=487) of patients indicated that they had experienced an improved experience due to team care, 85% (20/23) of care providers reported improved job satisfaction because of working in a team care model, and specialists demonstrated increased access to specialist care by increasing the number of new consults per clinic day by 31%.
  • The new SSC Strategic Framework has been finalized, and endorsement was received from SSC members.