NDP and Greens tout progress on primary care but questions remain

There was much back-patting this week as the NDP and Greens joined to release a report showing the province has attached 750,000 people to a primary care provider since 2018 and that 76 per cent of people signed up to the government’s Health Connect Registry now have a family physician or nurse practitioner. Article content

But one family physician is worried the government isn’t effectively counting “attached” patients.

Dr. Rita McCracken, who is also a UBC assistant professor in the family practice department, says the process the province uses remains opaque and there is little recording of whether British Columbians are getting care quicker as a result.

“Attachment is one thing, access is another. So the doctor could have billed an attachment code for them, which makes them officia