Your medical staff association and VPSA board of directors remain unchanged as confirmed at our December 16 joint annual general meetings. The 2024 AGMs were the most highly attended since VPSA was formed in 2017, with 212 members registered in person and online. The VMDAS board consists of Drs. Ka Wai Cheung (president), Michael Nimmo (vice president), Adam Meneghetti (treasurer), Eric Yoshida (secretary), Debra Miller (member at large), and Alison Harris (past president). The VPSA board mirrors that of the VMDAS with the exceptions of Dr. Fahreen Dossa (secretary) and Drs. Anna Borowska and Eric Yoshida (members at large).
Dr. Cheung reviewed the past year’s highlights for both associations including (for VMDAS) the annual long-service recognition ceremony, the annual medical staff awards, our second annual resident recognition event, and two family-friendly gatherings. She also paid tribute to members who passed away this year: Dr. Robert G. Wakefield, Dr. Jill McEwen, and Dr. Abdulkarim Jiwa. Dr. Cheung mentioned several milestones VPSA reached in the past year (see the Board of Directors’ Report for more information) and thanked the many members who serve on VPSA’s various committees and task groups.
Bylaws amended
A special resolution to amend the VPSA bylaws received unanimous approval.
The changes align VPSA with the Doctor of BC guidelines including the inclusion of non-physician VMDAS members to the society, with executive positions reserved for physicians. In alignment with other health authorities, voting rights are reserved for physicians, who hold fiduciary responsibility over the society and are accountable for its decisions. The resolution also admits Vancouver Community of Care credentialled medical professionals as members to the society in order to preserve membership to the society of those who are impacted by recent changes to VCH privileging guidelines. The updated bylaws also clarify wording for the term lengths of VPSA board members.
VMAC update
In his last formal appearance as Vancouver Medical Advisory Committee chair, Dr. M. Raju Heran gave an update of the committee’s recent activities. These include working to simplify the credentialing process, creating new departments, and overseeing the new VA Provider Digital Health Committee. VMAC is also working to streamline the hiring process. Dr. Heran commended everyone for their efforts to come through the pandemic and adapt to CST/Cerner. He noted that physician wellness is always a concern and that this is subject to additional stresses as more demands are placed on our medical system.
Credentialing medical providers
Interim VC Senior Medical Director Dr. Vandad Yousefi provided background on the changes being made to VCH’s credentialing system. VCH is unique among BC’s health authorities in that the process for community-based providers is uniform across the authority. All providers are credentialed and privileged to acute sites regardless of where they work and deliver care.
The BC Hospital Act defines 12 VCH facilities where providers must be privileged to deliver care. Providers working in most VCH community settings do not require hospital privileges to deliver care. The current practice of privileging community providers has introduced numerous risks to VCH and created unnecessary administrative burdens. For these reasons, VCH is recommending a change in practice: hospital privileges will no longer be offered to providers working exclusively in community.
Dr. Yousefi emphasized that this step is intended to not only reduce administrative burdens but also optimize recruitment, ensure a focus on quality and patient safety, improve governance, align with current laws, and mitigate organizational risks.
This work, which began last spring, is ongoing. The change was endorsed by VCH’s SET in late October and by HAMAC in November. At this point, communications plans are being drafted and standard notifications sent to providers. Dr. Yousefi anticipates that VCH will disseminate notifications with the new governance policy and memorandum of agreement to existing privileged community-based providers between February and June 2025.
Vancouver Acute leadership presentation
VA Co-senior Medical Director Dr. Ladan Sadrehashemi gave a presentation on the work that she and Dr. Vinay Dhingra undertake in their leadership roles. This includes providing senior medical administrative leadership and decision making in relation to operational and strategic matters, partnering with the VA VP to oversee all aspects of the day-to-day operations in VA, and providing overall leadership for medical activities within VA.
Drs. Sadrehashemi and Dhingra work with regional department heads and site department heads to implement and record performance evaluation, credentialing, appointments, and re-appointments. They work on all matters relating to contracting physician services within the parameters of VCH policy and manage issues related to VCH bylaws, rules and regulations, as well as managing physician issues related to professional conduct. Our VA senior medical directors also oversee the learning environment at VA and partner with UBC Post-Graduate Medical Education leadership to help ensure PGME needs are addressed.
The dynamic duo also develops integrated processes and mechanisms to encourage best practices, improve clinical outcomes, and achieve defined standards of care. They oversee investigations of complaints and concerns regarding medical care. Drs. Sadrehashemi and Dhingra also collaborate as members of the VA Senior Leadership Team, HAMAC, VMAC, and the Executive Medical and Academic Leadership Team. They may represent VCH on legislative and other committees and boards and they foster relationships with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC and other professional associations.
Dr. Sadrehashemi reminded members that she and Dr. Dhingra have an open-door policy; please get in touch if you have anything you would like to discuss.
Check out photos from the evening here.
Mark your calendar for the next VMDAS quarterly meeting on February 24, 2025. Registration information will be circulated in an upcoming issue of our weekly Checkup e-newsletter.