Facility Engagement

WHAT IS FACILITY ENGAGEMENT?

Facility Engagement is a provincial initiative that aims to strengthen relationships, engagement, and communication between health authorities and facility-based physicians, to improve their work environment and the delivery of patient care with:

  • Improved opportunities for physicians and health authority leaders to work together to share knowledge and make informed decisions that can improve patient care, the physician experience, and the cost-effectiveness of the health care system.
  • Opportunities and support for physicians who work at facilities and are members of the medical staff to develop a meaningful voice, and increase involvement in local activities that affect their work and patient care.
  • Funding to support activities that involve physicians in decision-making, and
    • Pay for physicians’ time in activities
    • Hire expertise to support the physician activities (e.g. a coordinator for administrative support; an analyst to track issues, develop business cases and manage projects; a physician lead to support engagement activities).

FACILITY ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVE OUTCOMES 2019/20 – 2022/23

In June 2019, the SSC FE Working Group agreed on the following outcomes to measure the success of the FE initiative over the next three years to ensure alignment with the MoU objectives.

Outcome 1: Improved engagement within and amongst MSAs

Outcome 2: Improved MSA and health authority engagement

Outcome 3: Enhanced MSA collective voice in health system planning & decision making 

FUNDING GUIDELINES

  • FE expenditures must align with at least one of the following goals of the 2019 Memorandum of Understanding on Regional and Local Engagement: ·
    • To improve communication and relationships among the medical staff
    • To prioritize issues that significantly affect physicians and patient care. · 
    • To support medical staff contributions to the development and achievement of health authority plans and initiatives that directly affect physicians. · 
    • To have meaningful interactions between the medical staff and health authority leaders, including physicians in formal HA medical leadership roles.
  • FE funds are primarily intended to compensate physicians for their time spent participating in internal meetings and meetings with health authority partners in relation to the FE initiative.
  • FE supports the role that community-based partners  in consulting and collaborating with MSAs and health authorities in improving physicians’ work environment and patient care in facilities.

FUNDING RESOURCES

Facility Engagement at LMH

Facility Engagement Initiative is part of the Physician Master Agreement and each Health Authority has committed to through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support great engagement and collaboration with physicians. Financial resources for encouraging greater physician participation in activities at their site are in place. This initiative is overseen by the Specialist Service Committee and is also responsible for fund distribution to the sites. 

The Langley Memorial Hospital Physician Association (LMHPA) is a non-profit Society incorporated on September 19, 2016 and duly registered with the British Columbia Registry Services with a listed Constitution and Bylaws. The Society has clearly stated purposes and exists to receive, hold, and distribute gated funding from the Specialist Services Committee of the Doctors of BC for the Facility Engagement Initiative. Governance and operations of LMHPA are the primary responsibilities of the appointed Executives/Board of Directors.  All members of the Medical Staff Association at Langley Memorial Hospital are automatic members of the LMHPA.

The LMHPA has identified the following Strategic Priorities for Facility Engagement in 2021/24:

  1. Support and enhance medical staff experience
  2. Improve the quality of health care and service delivery
  3. Strengthen relationships between Fraser Health Authority and medical staff
  4. Strengthen and clarify MSA/Facility Engagement Structure

Directors of LMHPA

  1. Dr. Navneet Sidhu – President
  2. Dr. Zuheir Abrahams – Vice President
  3. Dr. Audrey Da Costa – Secretary/Treasurer
  4. Dr. Navreen Gill – Member at Large
  5. Dr. Preena Sahota – Member at Large

Subcommittees

The Executives/ Board of Directors are supported by various Subcommittees that ensure all Facility Engagement activities align with the strategic priorities.

The subcommittees are:

Quality Improvement Subcommittee

The subcommittee is responsible for generating ideas focusing on quality improvement of clinical practices and patient care by engaging with the broader MSA and with other sites. The group meets on a monthly basis and submits a quarterly report at the MSA meetings. 

  1. Dr. Erica Phelps (Chair)
  2. Dr. Audrey Da Costa (Executive Representative)
  3. Ms. Kimberly Doering (Clinical Director)
  4. Dr. Daniel Negash
  5. Dr. Navreen Gill

Project Staff Support: Ms. Ann Nienaber

Wellness Subcommittee

The primary mandate of this group is to identify, develop and implement initiatives that lead to Physician Wellness. The activities could include support mechanisms for physicians during crises, educational talks, team building events and such. The group meets on a monthly basis and submits a quarterly report at the MSA meetings. 

  1. Dr. Elaine Mah (Chair)
  2. Dr. Preena Sahota (Executive Representative)
  3. Mr. Carl Dragt (Director of Clinical Operations)
  4. Dr. Sarah Lord
  5. Dr. Rae Dalzell
  6. Raman Brar, NP
  7. Dr. David Chapman
  8. Dr. Gita Gupta

Project Staff Support: Ms. Ann Nienaber

Communications Subcommittee

The Communications Subcommittee’s primary objectives fall broadly under the Strategic Priority of “Support and enhance medical staff experience,” with the associated objective to support better engagement and communication among medical staff to act with a collective voice, with the goal to provide more timely communication with members.

  1. Dr. Patricia Lyle (Chair)
  2. Dr. Navneet Sidhu (Executive Representative)
  3. Dr. Raj Bhui
  4. Dr. Sarah Lord
  5. Dr. Leo Wong
  6. Dr. Mark Tsai

Project Staff Support: Ms. Ann Nienaber

The Facility Engagement Initiative’s activities are supported by:

  1. Ms. Ann Nienaber (Program Manager)
  2. Sukhmani Grewal (Administrative Assistant)

Got an Idea?

Langley Memorial Hospital Physician Association is seeking innovative ideas to engage with the Physician. As a consequence of these ideas, a physician should have a sense of fulfillment that their contribution mattered and helped the facility achieve its overall objectives. The ideas should contribute to improved patient care and work environment.

Intent

All members of MSA are encouraged to submit their ideas in less than 500 words, by completing the Letter of Intent form and email it to the project staff. The member would be contacted by the project staff within a week for further discussion of the idea. The intent form ensures all the criteria are met and if approved, the physician is able to access sessional fees towards the development of the proposal. Please send the completed Letter of intent form to lmhpa@facilityengagement.ca

Please click Letter of Intent to download

Project Proposal Development

 If approved, a detailed Project Intake would need to be completed. For completion of the application, you may have to need to have discussions/approvals from the administration and/or department heads. The project staff will help in coordinating these meetings, helping you fill the application, and arriving at a budget. 

Project Application 

Evaluation

Every approved project will be evaluated periodically to ensure the objectives are met, and the activity is within budget. The physician lead is requested to comply with this criteria. The evaluation results will be shared with all the relevant stakeholders.

Resources