Thank you for visiting us at the BC Rural Health Conference June 6th-8th. Sign up for our distribution list and stay up to date on JSC’s support for rural physicians.
Did you know about JSC’s incentives and supports for rural physicians?
JSC provides incentives to practice in rural communities, access to rural care models, and education and training supports for medical learners and physicians. JSC funds:
- 43 initiatives for physicians committed to rural community
- 42 initiatives for new-to-practice physicians
- 29 initiatives for rural locums
- 19 initiatives for medical learners
Incentives to practice in rural communities
JSC recognizes the value of rural generalism and the additional supports needed for rural physicians to care for rural patients. JSC-funded initiatives include:
- RRP: Rural Retention Program—designed to enhance the supply and stability of physicians in eligible rural communities, these benefits are paid to physicians working in eligible rural communities.
- RIF: Recruitment Incentive Fund—provides an incentive between $5,000-$20,000 to eligible physicians to assist recruitment to eligible rural communities.
- RCF: Recruitment Contingency Fund—an annual fund to assist eligible communities with recruiting expenses in the event of difficulty filling a vacancy.
- IAF: Isolation Allowance Fund—for physicians providing necessary medical services in eligible rural communities.
- RCME: Rural Continuing Medical Education Programs Community Funds—provides funding and other supports to rural doctors to update and enhance their medical skills and credentials required for rural practice.
- LRBC: Locums for Rural BC—provides full support and assistance to physicians and specialists practicing in rural communities so they can take reasonable periods of leave from their practices for continuing medical education, vacation, and health needs.
Access to rural care models
JSC funds a number of initiatives for rural health care providers in BC. Examples include:
- NITAOP: Northern and Isolation Travel Assistance Outreach Program—provides funding for approved physicians who visit eligible rural and isolated communities to provide medical services.
- REEF: Rural Emergency Enhancement Fund—provides funding for eligible rural emergency departments to support physicians who collaboratively plan for and provide public access to emergency department services on a regularly scheduled basis.
- MAIDTTAP: Medical Assistance in Dying Travel and Training Assistance Program—provides funding to assist health authorities in providing MAiD services to residents in eligible rural communities.
- RSON: Rural Surgical & Obstetrics Networks—Delivered by the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia (RCCbc), RSON stabilizes, supports, and enhances the delivery of quality health care to vulnerable rural populations in BC, including Indigenous populations.
- ROAM-SP: Rural Obstetrical & Maternity Sustainability Program—Delivered by RCCbc, ROAM-SP funds maternity teams in rural BC to strengthen their peer, facility, and regional networks and enhance rural maternity care services.
- JSC provides funding and guidance to RCCbc’s Real-Time Virtual Support for rural health care providers in BC where physicians provide support by Zoom or telephone, understanding the rural context.
Education & training supports for medical learners and physicians
For medical learners, JSC funds mentorships connecting learners with experienced physicians, and supports scholarships and grants for medical education and research projects.
JSC-funded initiatives include:
- RCME: Rural Continuing Medical Education Programs Individual Funds—provides funding and other supports to rural doctors to update and enhance their medical skills and credentials required for rural practice.
- Various skills upgrading courses such as EEP (Emergency Education Programs), which provides family physicians practicing in smaller communities with three-month, full-time renumerated fellowship in Emergency Medicine, and The CARE Course, a two-day inter-professional team-oriented learning experience to enhance the ability of rural health care teams to deliver comprehensive rural emergency care.
- REAP: Rural Education Action Plan, which partnered with UBC to develop Rural eMentoring BC to provide mentorship opportunities to rural students pursuing health care careers. REAP provides programs and bursaries to rural doctors, locums, medical learners to support their training needs. REAP also provides advanced skills and training funding.
- JSC funds the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia (RCCbc), which supports the Rural Medicine Interest Longitudinal Mentorship.
- RCCbc engages medical learners in its core network of physicians, staff, and key partners.